


Those With Powers

by QuirkQuartz



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Battle Scars, Character Development, F/F, F/M, Hero School, LGBTQ Characters, M/M, Romance, Slow Romance, Story Arc, Vigilantism, Villains, Violence, accidental reveal, one-sided reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 216,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8536357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuirkQuartz/pseuds/QuirkQuartz
Summary: Adrien and Marinette live in a world in which everyone possesses a Superpower called a Trait. These Traits can not only give people powers, but give them an abnormal appearance, or allow them to do incredible, inhumane things. As both of them train to become Heroes, they take up the masks of Ladybug and Chat Noir to fight crime as Vigilantes - An illegal crime in the world of Heroes. New species and allies and enemies and powers always come into play with every day of their lives - and the Vigilante's Ladybug and Chat Noir have to figure out who they can trust to stop the Villains from achieving their goal! Invasion Arc - Hawkmoth has begun to put his plan into action, which involved a large number of Villains, an airship, and the CFD. Behind that mask, Gabriel Agreste plans out an attack in an effort to increase his own powers, but the question remains - What of his own child who attends this school?





	1. Adrien's Backstory - A Dangerous Mutant

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit right now, this story is HEAVILY inspired by My Hero Academia. Traces of other shows like RWBY and the likes also found their way in here, so this is basically a story of me being a massive nerd. A ton of OC's appear in the series, but they're kinda a required evil. I'll be updating this regularly until it's up to date with the cross posts on Fanfiction.Net and Wattpad.

Traits. Superpowers. Abilities. Powers. Abnormality's. Primality's.

No matter what name you wanted to call them, their presence in society was abundantly clear, no matter where on the planet you lived. No one was sure how the Human race suddenly begun to develop the superpowers that now defined them, but it was thought to be the defining moment in history on Earth.

Across the world, people were gifted with superpowers that were known commonly, and officially, as Traits. Each person had one that made them unique against every other person on the planet. Some of them were brutal and combat focused, like the power to generate fire, whereas some were far more humble, like the ability to simply fly. Seeing people with horns, claws, wings, additional limbs, tails, even unique skin colours, now was commonplace, and the entire population having superpowers was just normal.

And from this development, came the Heroes that became the face of society.

Heroes were the people who used the powers they had to protect the ones who have weaker abilities, to protect those who couldn't defend themselves, to fight and uphold the law, and to maintain justice wherever it was needed. Across the globe, admiration for these Heroes was paramount, and thanks to them, there hadn't been a single war since the Great Trait was that ended in 1932. The world had enjoyed nearly a century of peace.

But that wasn't so say violence was non-existent.

And so Heroes remained. And to better prepare the younger generations, those who aspired to become Heroes, schools were set up in order to teach them, the ethics, the codes, the morals, to train them, to teach them how to better use their powers.

Collège Françoise Dupont was one such school, dedicated to the teachings of Heroes. Ranked third in the globe for producing the strongest Heroes and having the best equipment available, the school always saw some of the best candidates for Heroism the world had ever seen.

Two of which were Marinette Dupain Cheng, and Adrien Agreste.

* * *

One of the earliest memories Adrien ever had was the activation of his Trait.

It was a day he remembered very clearly. Like any other Trait activation, Adrien's ability activated before his sixth birthday. Specifically for the young child, he was four at the time of his activation. He had been playing outside with his mother, on a warm, sunny August morning. Adrien had been insistent on playing football, and having his mother being the goalie. While he wasn't ever a particular fan of sports, he loved the praise his mother gave him whenever he scored a goal. His mother was a gentle woman, and Adrien had inherited her golden blonde hair, and her emerald green eyes. She had a kind heart, and a soft face, with lightly tanned white skin. Despite her unaccommodating figure, she was rather athletic. Occasionally, his father would come and join in with their game, if he didn't have work he had to do.

This wasn't one of those days though, and Adrien and his mother were left to play the game themselves. Neither of them held it against Gabriel. He worked very hard for the two of them, so they could have easier lives.

However, he was the only one of the family was tall enough, or physically capable enough, of retrieving the ball when it got itself lodged within a free. Adrien had kicked the ball with every single ounce of strength he could muster, wanting to shoot the spherical object straight past his mother before she could even try to block the ball from going into the net. He made the mistake, however, of putting too much force underneath the ball, and it instead went up a huge horizontal arc, and landed firmly the tallest tree in the Agreste estate - Quite out of reach of the two family members there. None of the servants were available either, due to Sunday being the one day off they had all week.

"Awww..." A young Adrien groaned, looking at his favorite football caught between thick branches. He slumped down and sat on the floor, sulking almost. It had been an accident, but now his ball was unreachable. It had to be at least 3 feet out of his mother's reach, making it impossible to get.

His mother, sweet as she always was, reassured her son. She ran her hand gentle through his soft hair and said to him kindly, "There, there, Adrien. Mama can go and get something to get the ball down, so we can keep playing, okay?"

"Okay, Mama." Responded the blond child, looking up at his mother with a fond smile.

"I'll be back soon, okay? Wait here." She planted a soft kiss on his forehead gently, before leaving her son alone in the large grasslands of her home's estate, returning to their mansion to acquire a ladder, or a pole, or something or other to retrieve her son's beloved football.

The child wasn't unused to being alone. His parents worked hard, and he was able to understand that. His father worked in the fashion industry, working on clothes for civilians, who had important events that they needed to look their absolute best for, like a wedding, or a formal party, and for Heroes, the professionals who used their Traits for the betterment of society. Adrien had often watched them come in, and listened as his papa had taken their measurements, and engaged in discussions with those Heroes about their work. Many of them claimed to be old classmates of his, which always made Adrien ask lots of questions when his father had the time to spare with him.

Young and impressionable, Adrien had always been interested in his father's work. Whenever he got the opportunity, those very rare chances, he would watch his father at work, and help him however he could.

It all made him want to be a Hero himself someday, so his Papa would make him a costume. So his Mama would be proud of him.

Adrien looked at his hands and wondered, what kind of Trait would he have? It wasn't long ago, just before he was born, where nearly every human on the planet, and even some of the animals, had been confirmed to have Traits, making the possibility of not having a Trait basically zero. He knew he just had to be patient, but still, the blond child wanted to know, what kind of power did he have inside of him? Would he be able to control fire? Melt objects with his hands? Shoot lasers out of his eyes?

Looking back at his ball, leaves swaying in the wind, he wondered, what sort of a powers did he have?...

During the early stages of a Trait development, many factors were considered before the primary activation of an individual's powers. Were they not activated early, they would always activate on the child's exact sixth birthday. Many researchers agreed that a strong emotion, such as love, desire, envy or anger, were required for early activation. Other times, they would just randomly activate. Traits were still a huge mystery to researchers.

For Adrien Agreste, it was a simple desire to retrieve his favorite football, so he could play games with his mother, whom he loved dearly.

It activated instantly, and practically without missing a single heartbeat. He was enveloped in a thin layer of dark black smoke, not thick enough to blind him, but enough to hinder his vision slightly. For a young child who hadn't been expecting it, Adrien was terrified, and shot backwards.

Only to find himself falling from the branch of the tallest tree in the Agreste Estate.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" His scream was heard from inside the house, prompting anyone inside to drop everything they were doing instantly and to run outside to see what had caused such a loud cry for help from the young Agreste child.

"Adrien?" His mother came running like a bolt of lightning, having dropped the ladder she had acquired, and dashing towards where she had left her son. She was closely followed by her husband, whom had shot upright from his desk of work upon hearing the cry himself.

"Mama! I'm up here!"

Gabriel was the first of the two to notice the location of their son. "Dear, in the tree!"

Sure enough, Adrien was clinging onto one of the branches from the tree, the same one that his ball had been located within. That football had fallen from the tree and rolled away a long time ago, since the second Adrien had somehow gotten up there. Now he was clinging on for what felt like dear life, his fingers clutching whatever bark he could. His hands had gone white from the pressure he was applying onto the wooden texture. He was horrified of falling right now. "Mama! Papa! Help me!"

"I've got you, Adrien. You can let go." His father assured him, standing just underneath his child. His arms were wide open, and his hands ready to grip hold of his son, his knees slightly bent. "Don't be scared, I'll catch you."

Understandably, Adrien initially refused. He was up so high, he was scared that letting go would end up hurting him in some way. Teary eyed, he refused.

"You trust your Papa, don't you?" Gabriel asked, giving his son a smile, one that told him 'Everything is going to be okay'. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

His father had little time for his family. But that didn't mean he didn't care deeply about them.

And Adrien did trust his father. Scared out of his mind, but believing his father would protect him, Adrien let go, and sure enough, he was caught by his father. The weight of his son sent a shock-wave throughout the fashion designer, but it wasn't anything to the middle aged man, far more fit than he looked. Looking his son in his tear-overflowing, emerald eyes, he said, kindly, "I told you that I'd make sure you were okay, didn't I, son?"

The young child wrapped his arms tightly around his papa's neck and began to bawl, loud and openly, hugging his father as tightly as he could. "Papaaa!"

"There you go, Adrien. You're okay." Gabriel said, patting his son on the back. "You're a brave little kid."

Adrien's mother couldn't help but smile at the sight of her husband and her son. Gabriel was, regrettably, not able to spend as much time with her and her son as they both would have liked, but he made up for that in the time he could spend with them. He was kind, and did everything he could to make sure Adrien was brought up happily. He rarely ever raised his voice with his son, and nurtured him where he could. He made promises that he would sometimes break, but she knew he always planned to _try_ to keep them. Work made that difficult. But he always tried to be a good parent.

She hadn't seen him be a better parent than he was right now.

* * *

That night, once Adrien had been set to bed, Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had to sit down together and talk about what had happened to their son. They had spoken to him after he had calmed down and stopped crying, and he had explained to them the best he could what had happened to him. He had described it as a "Boom" and a "Ka-Bang" and then he was in the tree.

"I don't think it needs much discussion." Gabriel said, matter-of-factually, taking a sip of his cup of coffee, before placing it back on the table. He leaned back in his own seat and placed a leg across his other, and resting his hands on his knee. "His Trait must have activated."

"He's still rather young for his Trait, isn't he?" Mrs. Agreste said, tapping a pencil with her hands. As she did this, she then motioned for the pencil to rise with the same hand, whereupon it began to float in the air.

Mrs. Agreste. Trait - Reactive Telekinesis. She possessed the ability to use Telekinesis, allowing her to move objects with her mind. However, she could only use these abilities after touching an object with her hands.

"I mean, my Trait didn't activate until my sixth birthday. Yours didn't either, Gabriel." She added. "I thought it would make sense for his to not activate until his sixth birthday also." She had almost planned for her son's sixth birthday party revolving around the activation of his Trait. That idea was now out the window. She sent the pencil over to her husband's side of the table, where he caught it between his middle and index finger.

"He must be an early bloomer." Was all Gabriel had to say to defend his point. "There isn't a way for him to get from the ground into the tree branches in the time it took you to get a ladder, unless his Trait activated." Resting his chin in his hands, Gabriel considered. "It must be a Teleportation Trait."

"Those are common, aren't they?"

"Somewhat. A lot of variations of the ability. Adrien's seems rather basic though. Just a puff of smoke, if what he told us was accurate."

"So... What do we do?"

"Well, we do what we have to do." Gabriel said, scribbling a number on a piece of paper, and sliding it over to his wife. "We'll have to send him to Trait Pre-School, like any other child. He'll have to learn to control his ability before he hurts himself."

"I know you're right, honey, I do..." The blonde woman sighed, looking at the paper. "But... I just... Want our little boy to be our little boy a bit longer..."

"He's still our little troublemaker." Gabriel said with a happy sigh, standing up, and sitting next to his wife, and taking her hand into his. "I know you worry about him, and so do I. If I lost either of you, God knows what I'd do. But that's the same reason we need to make sure he learns how to control his power before he hurts himself."

"I know... You're right." Mrs. Agreste smiled at her husband. "Aren't I supposed to be the one concerned about his well-being more?"

Before Gabriel could respond to his wife's joke, they were interrupted by a large puff of black smoke in front of them, and then a sudden slamming of a mattress in front of them. Knocking over the coffee table, spilling their cups onto their tiled floor, shattering them, Adrien suddenly rolled out of bed, still in his pajama's, wide eyes and freaked out.

A few second ago, the young Agreste boy had been fast asleep, and now, he as in the living room, along with his mattress, and his surprised parents. In instinctive defense, Gabriel had shielded his wife with his body, before he realized it was his own son. "M-Mama?... Papa?..."

"Adrien, are you okay?!" His mother asked him, pushing past her husband and placing her hands on her child's shoulder, checking him for injuries or scold marks. He was completely unharmed, aside from an emotional scare.

Gabriel sighed and looked at the mattress now cluttering his kitchen. _'So, he must have Teleported in his sleep... And whatever he's touching can also be Teleported... That's also why his pajama's are still on, thank God...'_ Gabriel didn't want to imagine his son with a Trait that left him completely naked after each teleport.

"Mama... what's happening to me?" Adrien asked, his voice fearful, unsure of what was happening to him.

"It's nothing to worry about." His mother assured him. "Your father and I were talking, and we think that your Trait activated earlier than it did for us. We're going to take you to a Trait Pre-School in the morning."

* * *

While it was commonly referred to as a Trait Pre-School, such establishments are called Trait's Academic Classes Towards Inner Control, abbreviated to TACTIC's. In a TACTIC school, students are placed into a friendly environment and are taught be trained professionals about their various Traits. Many teachers who work in these establishments have worked in the Hero business, or at least possess an equivalent amount of knowledge. This makes the faculty at these establishments some of the best trained individuals to aid the younger generation to harnessing and understanding exactly what a Trait is.

To Adrien, however, it was a massive display of incredible powers.

Paris had only one TACTIC school locally, where many children were sent to learn about their Traits. The reasoning behind this was that so the children could meet other Trait users who were just starting to learn, so they could make friends easier, and show that they are not alone in having these powers.

Throughout the entire city, there had to be at least 200 children there the first day Adrien went. It marked some of the very first Mutant-Class Trait users Adrien had seen in person. He had seen lots of them on the TV, in films and on the news, but he had never met a Mutant-Class Trait user before.

Many of the children had visible changes to human anatomy, giving them unique and bizarre appearances, hence their classification as Mutant-Types. Some had very minor changes, such as the one child who had blue skin and green hair, or the one who had two fingers and a thumb on each hand instead of four. Some had different colored eyes than the normal spectrum, such as pink, or red.

Other Mutant-Classes however, were far more noticeable. Some had skin that looked like metal. Others had extremities such as wings, or tails. Some had additional limbs, such as four arms, or a lack of lips. Some cases were fully body Mutations, that gave one child the appearance of a dragon.

However, the vast majority of people were, for the most part, regular human looking. But every single child there possessed a Trait that was unique to them. No one in the building had the same powers as somebody else. Adrien watched one child attempting to control water with his hands not touching the liquid. He would occasionally cause some droplets to rise into the air, but they would fall to the ground not long afterwards. Another child seemed to be able to create fire in the palms of their hands, and turn it off completely at will, without suffering burn effects. So many various powers on display by children, still coming to grips with their powers.

Adrien had been asked to demonstrate the powers he had... but the issue was, he had no idea how to.

"What do you mean?" His tutor asked him. His tutor was a tall man, who possessed forearm-mounted blade, made out of bone. He was a tanned man, and claimed to have been a Hero at some point in his past, yet he looked only about twenty. He was a friendly man, so Adrien had no problems with speaking to him.

"I don't know how I do it." He told his tutor. "It first happened when there was one of my favorite footballs in our tree, and I wanted to get it back, and then I was in the tree somehow, and I don't know how."

"So you're not sure how to activate your Trait... Okay." The tutor said with a smile. "That's not a problem. It's a very common thing for people who are just learning about their abilities." He turned to Adrien's mother and asked, "Has he had any sort of incident worth mentioning?"

"Well, he teleported from his bedroom to our kitchen, and he brought his mattress with him..."

"Did he?" The man patted Adrien's head. "Not bad kiddo. Not a lot of Teleporters can move stuff with them. Do you know how that felt? Could you describe it to me?"

"It felt kind of... Stiff? My arms and fingers became hard to move..."

"It sounds like that was your muscles tensing... Okay, I think I have an idea." The tutor responded quickly, and with a certain amount of energy to his voice. "This is a common thing with people with Warp and Teleporting abilities. Adrien, you just need to focus on where you want to go. You need to think hard about where it is that you want to go, and your Trait should activate. Your body will tense up, but that's nothing you need to worry about. It happens to people sometimes when they use a Trait for the first time. You'll be able to get past it soon."

"Where - Where should I focus on going?"

"Try teleporting to your mother." Gabriel told him from the seating area. His comment earned him a jab from his wife, but she didn't correct him either.

"That's a good target." The tutor agreed.

"O-Okay..." Adrien said, facing his mother. He was nervous, but the encouragement he received from everyone around him spurred him on. He focused as hard as he could. _Go to Mama. I want to be next to Mama. I want to be there now!_

Within a second, he was there, sat on his mother's lap, a puff of smoke surrounding him, her, and the area he had been just a second ago. His father, who had been at least ten meters away a second ago, was now right next to him, with a smile on his face, swelling up with pride.

"That's the way!" The bone-bladed tutor congratulated, clapping his hands. "Not so bad, is it?"

"Nu-uh!" Adrien agreed, excitedly hugging his mother happily. "It was super easy!"

"Adrien... What are you doing! Stop!" His father suddenly, and unexpectedly, screamed at his son, bolting upright and backing up, in abject horror. "Let go of your mother!"

"Papa?..." Adrien looked towards his father, startled.

As he did so, he got a look at his arm.

His veins were charcoal black, visible even underneath the skin. On his shoulder, they seemed to face away, but towards for forearm, they become more present, darker than black, and towards his hands, they were basically totally black, but what they were doing horrified to poor child. Corruption from his own palms seemed to spread into his mother, who was sat there, her eyes wide open, clearly in pain, but unable to convey it. Black likes had run all around her next, to her throat, and around her voice-box, decaying her very skin and flesh instantaneously.

The blond child took his hands off of his mother's neck, and blood squirted from her jugular and at him.

Adrien screamed.

* * *

"Your son appears to have a very rare genetic mutation."

Mrs. Agreste had been rushed to hospital instantly after the accident, carried there by the fastest individuals that could be acquired. Her next had essentially decayed away despite her being very much alive, and she had been unable to warn anyone of the incredible pain she had gone under.

Gabriel looked at his son, a combination of both worry and anger towards his only child. What had happened to him? What was going on with him now? "What... Sort of mutation?"

'Mutation' was a very vague word, especially when it came to Traits. A Mutation could be anything to the development of powers to growing a tail.

The doctor sighed and passed over a sheet of paper from the side of his desk. It had plenty of handwriting on it that was very neat, and very small, so Gabriel needed to use his glasses to see it clearly. "Your son appears to possess the TTM-0781Z Mutation, what we call the Dual Mutation. It's a very, very, _very_ rare mutation in the child's DNA that gives him access to two Traits, completely unrelated from one another, passed down through genetic coding. One activates shortly after the other, but cannot be controlled when it does." He looked at the floor and bit his lips. "It was just bad luck your son happened to possess one that activated on his hands, and they were touching your wife's neck when this happened."

This couldn't be right... "But... But-But neither of us possess a Trait even close to this..."

"I can only conclude that one of your ancestors must have. Traits still aren't completely understood yet, so we can only hypothesize." The doctor looked at the child solemnly. He was in the waiting room, where Gabriel had asked a nurse to watch him for a short time, while the doctor he currently spoke to, a man who possessed two horns from his head, explained the medical diagnosis. "It appears to be some sort of destruction Trait. We ran the tests you asked us to, and whenever his hands touched something and he activated this ability, it basically disintegrated."

Gabriel's mind went through a lot of things at one, but there was one question, one huge detail that he needed to know.

"What about my wife? What happens to her?"

* * *

Adrien never forgot that day.

He never forgot the days his Traits activated.

He never forgot the first time he Teleported.

He never forgot the day he first used his _Destruction_ Trait.

He never forgot that day.

The day he learned his mother wouldn't be coming home with them.

The day he realized that it _was_ his fault.

The day he realized he had _killed_ her.

Above all of that, for the years to come, he kept one thing in his memory.

The sight of his father crying, hugging him, and those words, drowned in sobs and sorrow.

"Never blame yourself. Do not forget that. This wasn't your fault Adrien. Never forget that - Even if I do."

From then on, Adrien had a new reason for wanting to become a Hero.

* * *

Adrien Agreste

Age: 15

Trait/s: Destruction/Teleportation. Adrien possesses a rare Dual Mutation, allowing him access to two powers.

Teleportation : Adrien possesses the ability to instantly Teleport to any location he desires within 3 miles of himself, as long as he knows where he is going, or can see his end location. Whenever he Teleports, he is surrounded by a puff of black smoke, which is harmless, but can be useful if he uses it correctly. He can also Teleport his clothes, and anything that he happens to be touching along with him, but the more weight he is carrying, the shorted distance he can Teleport. This Trait is directly linked to his stamina, so overusing it can lead to him becoming exhausted.

Destruction - This Trait allows Adrien to destroy any object that he touches down to the atomic level. This Trait works on living and non living objects and creatures, making it a very dangerous power. Whenever he uses this ability, his arms turn a dark black colour, and keeping it activated for a short time will cause a build up of bubbles around his hands that also act as destructive forces. Overusing this Trait will lead to his skin peeling off, exposing his muscle tissues, which can cause intense pain.


	2. Marinette's Backstory - A Gifted Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see Marinette's Trait finally activate, and the true uniqueness of her powers....

Setting up their family bakery was a difficult challenge for Marinette's family for a multitude of different reasons. Baking had always been a passion of her parents, and opening their own store had been something they had always wanted to do. In Paris, however, a city that was known for, among many things, its quality of baked goods, this was no easy task. An over-saturation of the pastry shops in the large city made opening one of their own incredibly difficult. 

While still very warm and loving to her, Marinette saw little of her parents during the first half of the first year when their shop opened. Always busy with a delivery, or discussing loans and mortgages with people in suits. So busy that they couldn't spend time with their five year old daughter, no matter how much she wanted to see them. They had converted their attic into a bedroom for their daughter, and made sure that she was comfortable and had plenty of things to occupy her time. Games consoles, a television, even a computer that they entrusted to her. They were struggling to get their business of the ground, but that wasn't to say they were poor by any stretch of the imagination. They'd planned for this well in advance. 

It was during this time that Marinette discovered her talent and passion for fashion design. Her artistic talents came to be a huge part of the little girl's life. Fashion designers like Gabriel Agreste became inspirations and role models to her. The work he did, for casual civilians and hard-working heroes, being both stylish and creative, yet practical and durable, sparked a creative drive Marinette herself didn't know she had. She would spend hours upon hours upon hours of her time practicing her work. Her drawings and her creation of clothes, until she became halfway decent at it. And when she became reasonable at the creation of these clothes, she still kept on improving, until she was good at it.

It became apparent she possessed great skill and talent in the area, despite only being five. She had a creative passion, and she wasn't afraid to show it off. She would always ask her parents to look at the things that she had made, and the things she had drawn. The praise she got only convinced her to work harder. And in doing so, she kept getting better and better, and the happy cycle continued, until she was nearly at a level that some famous Designers themselves would be jealous of. 

One day, Marinette was working on creating a blue dress, while her parents were baking various goods, as per usual. It was a long, elegant dress she was making for her mother's upcoming birthday. Her television was on, an there was a program about a Hero who was called Multiply, who could create clones of himself, with the drawback of each clone only being half as powerful as the original. He was doing an interview, explaining how his Trait worked.

Multiply looked like the average Hero. He wore a white jumpsuit, with red lines going down his chest, and around his wrists, and waistline. There was also a crimson X on his chest, the mathematical sign for multiplication. Additionally, he also wore a mask covering only his eyes. He also had a muscular build, the result of plenty of visits the the gym, he claimed. "When I use my power, my cells basically divide and replicate themselves, and detach from my body. Those cells become my clones, and so on and so forth. That's why each one of my clones is only half as strong as the original thing."

The female interviewer nodded as Multiply spoke, keenly taking an interest in what this professional had to say. "I assume that's why you've built your body up so much, to compensate for that weakness."

"Correct." The Hero nodded.

"You must have received a certain level of mockery for attempting to be a Hero with a power such as yours." The interviewer asked. "Your power is a very limited one, and some would argue not even useful for a professional. Many of your critics claim that your powers of weakened duplication make you a hindrance on the battlefield."

"Many of those critics, I'm willing to wager, don't work in the Heroic's field." Multiply commented, leaning forward towards the camera. While he seemed to be defensive about the strength of his power, he was also very calm and confident about his words. "It is of my opinion that no matter the Trait you may possess, you can use it to be a Hero. The people who put themselves on the lines of duty every day are the ones who are called Heroes. It is the same reason anyone can become a boxer. Anyone can become a linguist. Anyone can become a fashion designer. You are the one who decides your future, no one else. Never let your critics bring you down. Use them, and grow from them."

His words made sense to the young blue haired girl, listening to the Hero talk as she finished her drawing and gathered the blue fabric she needed to start cutting and sewing together to make her masterpiece clothing. She always took her time with sewing, for fear of getting pricked by the rapidly moving needle. While it increased the quality of her work, and left her far safer than rushing it, it also left the small girl with a lot of time to think. 

"I wonder when my Trait will show up..." Marinette wondered aloud as she measured out the materials. A lot of her friends and schoolmates already had their Traits, and she had been somewhat left behind. Eventually, it turned into just her being the only one without a superpower, making her somewhat of an outcast, someone who didn't belong. Her mother and father reassured her that her powers would come eventually, but at this rate, Marinette was convinced hers would activate on her sixth birthday, when everyone had left her completely alone.

She began to cut the cloth in front of her carefully, making sure not to go over the edges of the lines she had drawn for herself. Being alone wasn't that big a deal for her. With her parents working hard to boost their business to a point they could sustain themselves, she was used to it. It gave her time to do the things that she enjoyed doing. But she was a social girl. She liked talking and interacting with people. It was just something she loved to do.

And her current lack of a Trait was affecting her ability to do that. People who activated their Trait's later on in their lives commonly became loners, as their friends who had developed their abilities would have left them to find new friends who did have developed abilities. It was a common effect that took the world over, the strong seeking to be on good terms with the strong, and the weak banding together. But those without powers? They were left alone... People like Marinette, who hadn't developed any powers quite yet...

There were some people who even used their Traits to bully the Traitless...   

In the moment Marinette remembered that, her hand slipped, cutting a giant hole straight through the center of the material. she looked at it aghast, and she screamed, "No!"

This was the only blue material that they had in the entire house, which was why Marinette had needed to be especially careful. It had been bought especially for her, and had been somewhat expensive for the family, given their current situation. She felt far too guilty for thinking to ask for more, especially seeing the level of stress her parents were always under. And now it was completely ruined! Wasted! 

Tears welled up for the distraught girl. She would have cried in upset and frustration had her hands not started to glow in that very moment. Wide eyes in wonder, Marinette was on the verge of another scream, and a squeal at the same time, and neither ended up coming out.

The glow seemed to intensify around her hands and the cloth of blue silk-like material, and before Marinette could even begin to process it, her material suddenly seemed to extend, and grow, until it separated from her original piece, leaving her with an equal copy of her original.

She was young, but she was also smart, and Marinette knew exactly what had happened.

Her Trait had finally activated.

* * *

"Marinette?"

A quick internal panic shot through the five year old girl's mind. Her room was an absolute mess, an utter and complete disgrace. She had been practicing her newly manifested powers, but hadn't cleaned up the total mess of a room she had made. Papers, pencils, blue material and fabrics, all thrown carelessly around, like a bomb had detonated in the attic. People had probably visited garbage dumps that were cleaner than this. "M-Maman!"

It was clear to Sabine that, with that tone of voice, Marinette was either hiding something, or doing something that she wasn't supposed to be. She tried to open the attic door, only to find that something, namely a table, had been pushed over the doorframe so no one could enter the room. Her mother now became alarmed, and began to loudly knock against the trap door. "Marinette, what are you doing up there?!"

Knowing there wasn't going to be a way out of this situation, Marinette reluctantly walked to the trap door that was the only entrance to her room. "Promise not to be mad?..." She asked, kneeling down, pushing the table out of the way, and opening the door for her mother.

"Mad about wha -" Sabine started asking, only to be cut off after seeing the mess that her daughter's bedroom was. Fabric everywhere, clutter scattered, and debris covering the surface of the floor. Sabine was more shocked than she was angry, and more angry than she was confused. "What in the - Where did all of this even come from?!"

"I - I asked my hands to make it!"

"Your hands?" Her mother was looking at her daughter like she had gone out and stolen all of this. There wasn't any way she would believe anything else unless Marinette showed her the truth.

Marinette sighed. She had wanted to hide her Trait so she could surprise her mother once she got her birthday dress fixed. She kept failing at making the dress with her powers, which was why all of these objects were scattered in her room. Her plan was ruined, but hopefully, her mother would understand... "I... My... My Trait activated..."

Sabine's face suddenly softened. "Your - It did?"

"Uh huh..." Bending down and picking up a thrown sheet of the blue fabric. "Watch, Maman."

The young girl cleared a space on her desk and placed her hands firmly on the material. It took her only a few seconds to remember the feeling, and to activate her power. Her hands glowed, and a white lightning struck from the fabric, seemingly splitting it into two, creating an almost identical copy.

The keyword there was almost.

This new piece, the one Marinette had created with her newfound powers, was twice as long, and in a higher quality, despite it being the exact same material. Additionally, it was also woven into the shape of a scarf, which Marinette quickly cut out. She quickly made sure it all seemed okay, and took it over to her currently gobsmacked mother. "Here, Maman. It's for you."

Sabine had never seen an ability like this before. And what was interesting to her was that it had no correlation to her or her husband's Traits. Tom, Marinette's father, had Enhanced Strength, whereas Sabine herself had an inorganic diamond form. Whenever they had contacted a doctor, or a Trait specialist, or someone who understood basic genetics, they had predicted Marinette's Trait to be one of her parent's, or a combination of the two. But what Marinette was doing right now, right in front of her mother's eyes, was something unheard of.

* * *

Marinette had been taken to see a Trait specialist the very next morning by her father. Sabine had had to stay at home in order to fulfil the counter service that they needed, as well as clean the complete mess Marinette made of her room. Marinette felt incredibly guilty as she walked along the street with her father, hand in hand. The young girl hadn't wanted to cause any problems for her hardworking parents. She knew how much their bakery dream meant to them, and she couldn't help but feel that she was getting in the way of that goal.

Her father had always expressed an interest in spending more time with his daughter, despite how busy he always was. The two of them would occasionally play videogames together, but he would often fall asleep after the fifth or sixth time Marinette completely destroyed him in any fighting game you care to name. That and his shattered pride at getting beaten by a girl who wasn't even six yet at games he'd been playing for the last twenty years.

But he had also expressed an interest in what Trait she would end up having one day, silently hoping she would have inherited his own power. He wouldn't deny his disappointment that she hadn't but her ability that she did have intrigued him nonetheless. He didn't know exactly what sort of power that she was wielding either, but he was still interested in learning more about it nonetheless. 

Once they were at the Trait specialist's clinic, they were greeted by the person who would examine Marinette's Trait. His name was Dr. Lézard. He had the appearance of a reptilian humanoid, standing on two legs, but having dark green scales instead of having skin. He also had a narrow skull, like a leopard Gecko. On each of his hands, he had three fingers and a fourth digit for a thumb, and behind him, a long, scaly tail, reaching about a meter and a half in length, so long that his doctor's coat hung slightly off of it as opposed to over it. In spite of his scary appearance, he was a very warm and friendly person, whom interacted with Marinette like he was an uncle to the young girl. She took a liking to him quickly, completely disregarding his reptilian resemblance.

"So." Dr. Lézard said, clapping his hands, covered in his unique Trait's scales. He leaned down to Marinette, who was sat on a table as he had instructed her, and asked, "What brings you here today, sweetheart?"

"My Trait... It activated yesterday." Marinette said, rather easily.

"Ah, it's always an exciting time, isn't it?" Lézard said to Tom, who nodded. Traits were often seen as a sign of growing up, where to excitement in life came from. Since Traits and powers were unique to every individual, a person could almost be defined by their Trait. "Mine was a bit scary at first, getting all of these scales and a tail of all things. How was yours?"

"It was good..." She hadn't been scared at all once she knew what it was that was happening to her, but what really made he want to know about her powers was the lack of knowledge that she had about her own Trait. "But I don't know what it is." 

"Well I can help you with that. What exactly is it?"

"I - I just said..."

"No, no, sorry, I worded that wrong." Dr. Lézard admitted. "I mean, my Trait is called Reptilian. It makes me look like a reptile, and gives me some of the features a reptile might have. So I have very strong skin and scales, and I can breathe underwater. I also have my tail." As the Trait specialist said this, his tail flung from behind him and rested on Marinette's lap. He allowed her to run her fingers along the unique piece of anatomy that only this scaly man had. Despite how it looked, it wan't slimy at all. Kind of rough, but pleasant at the touch. Like a snake, almost. "I can control it like a third arm. That's what I mean. What can your Trait do?"

"She can... Create things." Tom said in place of his daughter, explaining to the professional her power. He understood very little of it himself, but he knew the basics of it after seeing the state that her room had been in when he was called up. "It's nothing like mine of my wife's powers. I have more physical power than the average Human, and my wife can make herself into a diamond form, so we don't fully understand where her powers came from." 

"Create things? That's interesting." He looked up at Tom to explain. "Traits aren't always hereditary, or inherited. They are extremely prone to Mutation, so expecting two to be alive is a rather unreasonable thing to assume. They're extremely varied, so we can never really guess what a childs Trait will be." He returned his attention to Marinette, "Can you show me that please, Marinette?" Lézard asked. He made sure to make his voice welcoming, but not demanding either.

Marinette nodded, and took hold of a metallic piece of equipment, specifically, a scalpel, located next to her. Holding it up, she asked the lizard man, "Could I please use this?"

"Of course."

Focusing on the feeling, Marinette concentrated. The feeling of the metal. The feeling of its shape. The feeling of everything around her.

The feeling of the atoms. And the key to creating more.

Hands glowing, and grey lightning striking from the young girls hands, Marinette revealed in her other hand, a close replica of the scalpel. The only difference being, this one was thicker, and longer, while the original one remained the exact same.

"Incredible..." Lézard said, looking carefully. His narrow mouth ajar, showing his rows of sharp, tiny teeth.

"What is it?" Tom asked, stepping closer to his daughter, and resting his large hands on her tiny shoulders.

"Your daughter seems to be... Creating things out of nothing." The reptilian doctor told Marinete's father. "Usually, a Trait that allows the user to create something needs to take something else of equal or greater value than the thing they are creating. Your daughter created a larger, more bulky scalpel, than the original one."

"I don't understand."

"Your daughter is actively creating atoms. Her Trait is allowing her to break physics as we know them."

Looking at her created scalpel, Marinette asked, "What's an atom?"

"They're basically the building blocks of the universe." Dr. Lézard said quickly. "I think there is more to it than this though... Marinette, could you try something for me?"

"I could try..."

"I want you to create something other than a scalpel - A shield, for example."

"But - But I don't have a shield to copy..."

"Copying items isn't your Trait. Could you please try for me? Just imagine a shield in your head, and try to use your power."

Although unsure of herself, Marinette agreed to try. She focused once again, thinking of the feel of the metal she was holding in her hand, and of a shield. A weapon used to defend people against attackers. A defensive creation.

The thing she wanted to create.

Another glow and lightning struck, and there was that shield, heavy, but in Marinette's hands.

"Incredible..." Dr. Lézard said. "I suspected as much. Your daughter possesses the ability to create and change atoms. She can't create something out of nothing, but she seems to need the same material as the thing she wants to create... With enough practice, it's possible that she could even alter some of the properties of the material she uses."

Tom looked at his daughter, and picked up the shield from his daughter. To him, it was light, but he knew this was a heavy piece of metal that his daughter had made, from a measly scalpel. "My daughter... Has this incredible power?"

"It's amazingly strong, and has incredible potential." The doctor told him. "In my own opinion, it could be one of the strongest Traits of the current generation. Your daughter has a great gift with this power. Nurture it well."

* * *

Marinette Dupain Cheng

Age: 15

Trait - Conversion - Marinette's power allows her to create atoms at a rapid rate at will, as long as she is touching an object that has the same atoms she desires to make. For example, if she wanted to create iron, she would have to touch an object made out of iron to do this. The object she touches only needs to have a single atom that she wants in order for her powers to work. She cannot create life, but she is capable of copying atoms from living beings. She may also be capable of rearranging atoms, and changing them at their level, meaning she can turn a carbon atom into a steel one, but she has yet to display any skill with this aspect of her powers.... Drawbacks are currently unknown. 


	3. Road To Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year before the main story takes place, Adrien and MArinette apply for one of the best Hero schools in all of France, where their paths cross for the first time.... On poor terms.

 (*One year before the main story-line*)

Nathalie Sancoeur. Trait - Keratin Claws - Nathalie's nails can grow at an accelerated rate that she chooses, and are made of keratin, far more durable and sharp than a regular human's nails. She can use these in combat if she feels the need to. They are permanently red.

Nathalie had worked for the Agreste estate for the last ten years, not long after the tragedy that had befallen the family. The woman had a red streak in her naturally black hair, although this was not hair dye, but a part of her Trait. She had learned many of the Agreste lives, secrets, and various other things that she needed to know in order to do her job efficiently.

The biggest rule was the never, never, under any circumstances, bring up Mrs. Agreste, unless she was specifically asked about her, or someone else mentioned her first.

She had learned of what had happened to Adrien as a young child, and she couldn't help but feel so horrible, so bad, so much sympathy for him. She couldn't imagine the guilt, and sheer horror that he had to feel when his secondary Trait activated. To many, a child having the Dual mutation would be a joyous occasion, a reason for celebration. For Adrien, it was like a permanent curse. A reminder of what he'd done.

He blamed himself. He always was going to blame himself. No matter what reassurances he was given, no matter how many times he was told otherwise, there would never be a day in which he wouldn’t blame himself.

But he seemed to push himself further than anyone else Nathalie knew because of that, using it as fuel to further drive himself.

Clutching hold of a spreadsheet, with Adrien's timetable on it, attached to a clipboard, she claws Trait user made her way to where she knew Adrien would be located - In his training grounds. Around his tenth birthday, Gabriel had installed a combat practice field for Adrien, and Nathalie couldn't remember a day since where the blond boy didn't do at least one run on it a day. It basically involved a set number of pop-up animatronics that were shaped like punching bags jumped up from certain points, and Adrien would use his speed and raw power to take them down.

He never used his Destruction Trait on them, for fear of damaging the machinery beyond repair, so he used his raw muscle, the pure strength the teenager had, of which he had aplenty.

* * *

 

"Rrrrrargh!" Constant bursts and shifts in sounds, and black puffs of smoke indicated where Adrien was, and where he wound up. He was pushing himself to the very limits of his Teleportation Trait, darting around all over the place with speed and precision.

He heard another one of the animatronics go up, so, with speed and careful pinpoint aim, he Teleported to it, and slammed his right fist square in the centre of the machine, before it had even finished rising. Another one rose behind him. In response, Adrien Teleported a few feet into the air, and kicked the rising machine down to the ground with a roundhouse kick to the upper region. His momentum kept him spinning, and he used this to his advantage, striking down on another rising target with brutal force.

He stopped, catching his breath, his hands positioned like they were claws, as he hunched forward slightly, taking in deep breaths to replenish his lungs. His throat was dry, and he was dehydrated, having expelled all the water vapour his body kept for hydration purposes on heavy breathing and sweat.

For someone his age, Adrien was very physically fit and active. For training, he always wore a dark grey vest, which did nothing to hide his reasonably bulky arms. Underneath that vest was the build of an incredibly athletic teenager, built up over years of practicing with his two Traits. Such a physique made him ideal to be a model, as while he was clearly muscular, he wasn't overly so. At fourteen years old, he was a very attractive teenager.

Sweat ran down his forehead and his arms, as he caught his breath. That marked the fifth time he had done this course today, and had just narrowly beaten his best time, completing the entire routine in about 45.7 seconds. He had a toothy grin plastered on his face.

Today was the day he had enrolled for public classes. Due to the coming of Traits in society, it had been made illegal to keep a child home-schooled for all points in their education, forcing Adrien's father, whether he liked it or not, to allow his son to enrol in public education, something Adrien had longed for his entire life. He did understand why his father wanted him to stay at home. It was an understandable thing for him to want, especially given the dangerous nature that his powers held... But this was Adrien's life.

If he ever wanted to make up for what he did...

"Adrien." The blond heard his name from the voice of someone familiar. Nathalie, the person his father had hired to essentially make sure he was okay when he couldn't. She was basically the caretaker, secretary, organizer and a thousand other jobs his father had her doing at all times during the day.

Adrien stood upright and tried to look calm and collected, but he was out of breath. He looked like he had just run a five mile marathon while lifting weights at the same time. "Nathalie?"

"Your father is expecting you. You should hurry and go speak with him." The assistant informed the Dual-Mutated teenager. Handing him a clipboard, Nathalie explained everything upon it. "Your father has also provided me with this timetable for you. You'll be expected to keep up your Mandarin and Fencing classes, in addition to your modelling work while you attend high school."

"Right..." Adrien said, looking over the time table. Everything was laid out in a similar fashion to how things normally were. Mandarin on Mondays, fencing on Fridays. That was fair enough. He knew he wouldn't have been able to drop them even if he had voiced opposition to them, so those being incorporated like this into his schedule worked fine for him. "Well, this could've been worse." He commented to Nathalie with a smile.

"Your father is located in his office. He is expecting you." The keratin-claw Trait use repeated, this time with an added location. Now that her hands were free, they resided behind her back, as she stood tall in a formal manner.

"Right, thanks, Nathalie." Adrien nodded, before preparing to Teleport to his father's front door. His father disliked him appearing in front of him unexpected and uninformed, and Adrien didn't want to upset him.

"Adrien, if I may..." Nathalie said, looking away briefly. She had known Adrien for years, and while she had to keep an air of professionalism while doing her job, she had come to care for the teenage boy. He worked hard. He never stopped trying. He refused to give up on anything he did, even if he detested it. "I... Think your mother would be proud if she could see you today."

Looking like he had been slapped for a second, the assistant feared she had done something wrong, but Adrien's face relaxed shortly afterwards. "Thanks, Nathalie. That means a lot to hear." He then disappeared in a puff of black smoke. It had been a subtle way of congratulating him while maintaining her professional ethic.

* * *

 

Knocking on the door, Adrien waited until he was called in by his father. The last few days had been stressful for the middle-aged man, and had left Adrien seeing even less of him than he normally would have done. His son leaving the home he had used to imprison him was something that had taken a toll on Gabriel, but he hadn't been left with much of a choice.

He had been left to sort out many of the forms that Adrien required filling in for public education. Due to his incredibly rare mutation, Adrien had been offered places at just about every single school in the entirety of Paris. Every school wanted to have someone in their classes with the rare Dual Mutation. Because of its availability, and its close proximity to Adrien's home, he had settled upon choosing the school with such an outstanding reputation, as well as its great academic courses, the Collège Françoise Dupont.

The high school was specifically designed to teach the students who wanted to support the Heroic industry, with various courses on display for a wide range of students, from the ones who wanted to work as civil servants, to the ones who wanted to create devices and costumes for the Heroes to wear.

And then there was the actual Hero course itself. The course Adrien had applied for.

"Enter." Adrien heard Gabriel's voice come from inside his office. With a quick intake of oxygen, Adrien pushed the door open. His father was sat at his desk, calmly composed and collected, betraying the stress and worry he was clearly under. There were hints of anger underneath it all, but Gabriel hid them well.

"Father." Adrien greeted, as he normally did. There was only formalities between the two of them anymore. No affection was ever rarely shared between them, if at all, and on the occasions it was, Gabriel made sure they were fleeting at best.

Adrien remembered clearly though, how his father cried that night his mother died. The last time he had ever seen any real emotion on his face. Since that night, they had grown so far apart, one could be forgiven for mistaking them for not even being related. They barely spoke. They barely saw one another. They were barely even father and son anymore.

Gabriel took a drink of water from a glass on his desk and looked at Adrien as he placed the glass back on his desk, the clatter of the glass echoing throughout the large, empty room. "I trust you have seen the schedule I have designed for you."

"Yes, father."

"Is it satisfactory to you?"

"Yes father. I have no complaints."

"Very good. Tomorrow shall mark the first day of your public education career. I oppose this, however, I have signed all the necessary forms for you to receive admission." Gabriel pushed the papers to the edge of his desk, so Adrien could collect them. "The rest is down to you."

"Thank you, father." Adrien nodded, walking up to collect the forms, all marked with his father's scribble of a signature.

"I believe your mother would have been proud of you."

"...Thank you, father." Adrien said, his head bowed.

"That is all. You're dismissed." Gabriel concluded, waving his hand at his son, like he was a servant to be removed from sight. In some ways, that was exactly what Adrien was. He never complained about his modelling. He never complained about his Mandarin. His father could make him do anything, due to the immense guilt Adrien felt for what he did as a child.

Following the command, the Teleporting Trait user left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him with a sigh.

His father never spoke about Adrien's mother. This marked the first time he had mentioned her in over a decade... But it hadn't been in an affectionate way, or a way of endearment towards his son. He said that like it was a back handed compliment. Perhaps his mother would have been proud of him... But his father had never said anything about him being proud of his son.

It meant a lot to hear from Nathalie because she wasn't a family member. She hadn't known Adrien long enough to have that sort of bond. It was her subtle way of saying that she herself was proud of him, while still retaining that sense of professionalism that they had to keep up at all times. His father was his freaking father.

Adrien didn't like it... But he understood it.

He shook his head. There wasn't any point on thinking about it. These papers in his hand, they were the start to something he had been aiming for his entire life. He had to take these to the school today to get registered, and tomorrow, he would be enrolled.

He found himself grinning before he even knew it.

This was his first step to becoming a Hero.

* * *

 

Places for an education at Collège Françoise Dupont were very competitive, Marinette discovered. It had a prestigious reputation for helping craft young Trait users into incredible Heroes and workers. There were many people applying this year, all of various shapes and sized, Traits aplenty.

Admission into a school such as this was first based upon the Trait that a person had, as well as a written examination. Primarily, a written examination made up about half the mark to become part of the school, whereas your functional and practical skills with your Trait made up the other half.

After so long of learning how to use her power, Marinette knew that she would pass. Not out of arrogance, nor over-confidence. It was just a fact. Her Trait had such a huge range of diversity and applicability, there wasn't a single test they could throw at her that her power wouldn't be able to counteract.

That being said, Marinette wasn't interested in the Hero course.

Focused, was Marinette's attention, on the design course. She wanted to learn how to improve her fashion skills. To learn how to use her Trait to help Heroes with their costumes. To learn to design better. To create stronger, more flexible and impressive materials. That was what Marinette wanted to do.

That day, she hadn't looked like an average student, looking for a school to apply up with. Anyone who looked at her just knew where she was applying. She was someone who wanted to apply at Collège Françoise Dupont - The legendary Heroics School in Paris. Dressed smart as one could expect, and an air of confidence about her outfit, people just knew.

There was an issue with her plan though.

She had absolutely no idea where the school was.

"Oh give me a break..." Marinette fretted, biting her lower lip. "How have I lived in this city my entire life, and have no idea where this freaking school is?!"

Irrational panic gripped the blue haired girl. If she missed the time period she had to register with the school, which was her dream school gone goodbye. She'd have to apply at one of those low-end schools that accepted applications after the official deadline. If a school did that, that meant no one wanted to go to those schools, usually with very good reason! No studio worth their weight in gold nor quality would want to hire her from one of those schools! She'd never be a famous designer like Gabriel Agreste!

"Oooooh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad..." What could she do? Where could she go? She didn’t know!

"Hey, girl, are you lost?"

Marinette turned to face the voice who had called to her. Stood next to her was a smart looking, brown skinned girl, whom had a set of glasses on her face, and long, copper red hair that reached past her shoulders. The girls head was slightly ajar, tilted slightly to the left, with an upraised eyebrow. The voice she had was friendly and welcoming, inviting her to talk to her, but not at all demanding her to either.

She was also applying for Collège Françoise Dupont. There wasn't a doubt in Marinette's mind.

"I - I don't know where to find the school..."

"Which school?"

"Collège Françoise Dupont."

The girl smiled at Marinette warmly again. "You're applying there too?" When Marinette nodded, the girl offered her hand for the blue haired girl to shake. "We'll be schoolmates then! My name's Alya."

"Marinette..." Came the Conversion Trait user's reply, awkwardly shaking this girl, Alya's, hand. She had a firmer handshake than someone would expect from looking at her.

"I know the way, and it's not far. Come on, follow me." Alya offered, walking past Marinette at her walking pace. "We're not actually too far from the place. It's just a bit further down this street."

Since she didn't really have many other options, Marinette walked alongside this Alya girl, grateful she had appeared when she had. The blue haired girl didn't know a lot of people, due to the bullying she had received earlier in her life due to lacking a Trait. It had left her somewhat socially awkward, but that wasn't to say she was totally helpless in social situations. She was a friendly, social girl. Just the people she had known for the past decade had been awful. "Thank you very much, uh, Alya... I really thought I was going to miss the deadline for applying..."

"Don't worry about it, girl." Alya reassured her with another smile. "We're both applying to go to a school for Heroes, right? I'm not much of a good one if I ignore someone who clearly needed help."

"So... You're applying for the Hero course?"

"Definitely! Is there anyone who doesn't?"

"Uh, me..."

"Oh? What're you applying for?"

"The, uh, Design course."

"Design?"

"Uh huh." Marinette confirmed. "I've always loved fashion, and I wanna keep on making costumes and clothes for Heroes."

Alya nodded. "That's a fair enough reason. What's your Trait?"

"Conversion." Marinette went over a very brief explanation of how her Trait worked to a thoroughly impressed Alya. The darker skinned girl was a good listener, letting Marinette speak, and asking questions about things she didn't understand. Marinette asked her, in turn, and learned that her Trait was called Broadband. It, according to her, allowed her to use Wi-Fi signals as shock-wave like weapons, as well as travel along a signal. Her Trait sounded unique, in that it required civilization to have that technology. Without a Wi-Fi signal, she would essentially be Traitless.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a Trait like that."

"Girl, I didn't even know Traits like yours could even exist!" Alya replied with a small chuckle. "Duplicating atoms? Changing them? I didn't think an ability like that even existed!"

"Eh heh..." Mairnette nervously laughed. "I guess it's a big world. There's a lot of unique powers and abilities out there." In this world of flashy superpowers, there were no two that were the same. Some may be similar, but none were the exact same. And yet, learning about new ones, new Traits and powers that she had never seen before excited Marinette to no end.

"I guess so." The brown-skinned girl agreed, before pointing at a tall building. "There's the school, right there!"

It wasn't much to look at. Nothing too impressive, nothing too fancy. It was a very large, rectangular building, akin to the medieval period in French history, with a large courtyard. Leading up to it, was a large flight of stairs, up to the entrance. The building was an enormous one, no one could deny, easily having room on there for five floors at the minimum. Five floors filled with people trying their very best to achieve what they wanted to achieve out of life.

Cluttering these stairs, were a number of students, or applicant students, all with various Traits and abilities. Many were Mutant-Class students, but the majority were human in their appearance. All of them were applying to go to this school, for one reason or another. The vast majority of students here were applicants for the Hero course, Marinette knew. It was the most popular course in the country. Hell, probably the world. Marinette found it incredibly unlikely that the majority of people here wanted to learn anything other than wanting to be a Hero.

The courses were vastly different, but each applicant was tested in the same way, to promote equal opportunity for all people. In reality, it created a situation in which a person who wanted to study how to use their Traits for medical purposes might have to be able to knock a person out with their abilities. There was criticism to this particular method of setting up applications, and it was argued a student's Trait should be judged by its own merits. So far, little had been done to correct this system, however.

Still, just being here... It was almost intimidating.

"What a building... What a school." Marinette said, as she admired the school. This was where she wanted to study. This was where she wanted to learn.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, by a cloud of black smoke cutting into her field of vision just to the right of her and Alya. Quickly dispersing thanks to the wind, Marinette saw a person emerge from that dark cloud of ash-like smoke. She realized in that moment, that the person who had emerged was someone who used a Teleportation Trait. With his blond hair, green eyes, and toned figure, Marinette had no idea who he was.

Alya, on the other hand, apparently did. Her jaw seemed to drop in surprise. Not embarrassment. Not like hiding from a crush. Just pure, unrivalled shock. "Is that Adrien Agreste?!" She asked, her voice a violent whisper.

Marinette just gave her a funny look. "Who's Adrien?"

"You call yourself a Designer? Gabriel Agreste's son?"

"He has a kid?!"

"Yeah! He's a model for his father's fashion company, how did you not know this?!"

That was a very good question, Marinette had to concede. "I - I don't know! I read nearly everything he released and look at every fashion show he's hosted. I don't know how I didn't know he had a kid..."

"Apparently he has a rare mutation about him." Alya said, suddenly on her smartphone, having pulled it out without Marinette even noticing. The girl could apparently access a webpage in the speed of a second, perhaps due in part to her internet-based superpowers. "According to the internet, he has a rare mutation that gives him access to two Traits..."

"Two Traits?!" The blue haired girl hadn't even heard of this sort of mutation before in her life. She was unaware the possibility for Humans like that even existed in the world. Abnormals, perhaps, but Humans? Again, demonstrating just how varied this world was.

The blond teenager wafted away the smoke that surrounded him, and looked up at the school with a smile. Hey was determined, Marinette could see. First impressions of the boy in front of her were flattering to say the least. She could clearly tell he was a model. He was handsome, there was no skimming around that fact. He was a looker. Marinette saw the brilliant green eyes he had that reflected the sunlight, and his long, golden hair suited him well. He was buff too, not to an overly degree, but it was clear to anyone who looked at him that he was a physically active individual. Had Marinette not been the sort of person to disregard looks, in the face of the person as a whole, she might have fallen in love with him right then and there.

He dusted down his clothing quickly, and scanned around the area surrounding him, seeing, but not particularly acknowledging Alya and Marinette, like he did many people as he tried to figure out exactly where he was. He knew he was at the school, but he wasn't sure where he was supposed to go. Was the people on the staircase in a line, or just loitering until teachers came to call them in?

"Adrikins!"

That voice. That shrill, screeching voice that Marinette recognized all too well. Before she even knew it, she was shoved aside, and her childhood bully, the person whom had made her life a living hell all the way until this point, Chloe Bourgeois was in front of her, darting towards the blond Teleporter. By the time she had refocused, Chloe had her arms firmly wrapped around Adrien's. A sharp gulp forced its way down Marinette throat as she wobbled a bit on the spot.

"Marinette, you alright?" Alya asked, helping up the dazed girl.

"I'm fine..." She sighed. "So Chloe's here too... Great..."

"You know her?"

"She's a classmate of mine. Or, was, I guess." Marinette explained. "She used to pick on me because my Trait activated later than everyone else's." Interestingly, Marinette had never seen Chloe’s Trait activated, yet everyone just seemed to take her word for it that her powers had manifested. She was always the ring leader, the mastermind behind every one of those schemes to make her feel miserable. They hadn’t stopped even after her Trait had activated. She’d spent a lot of her childhood alone because of it, fiddling with sketches and dresses.

"That's messed up." Alya grimaced, crossing her arms. "We don't get to choose when our Trait's activate. It's just chance."

As the two of them quietened down, they were able to overhear the conversation that Chloe and Adrien were having. Chloe seemed to be leading the conversation heavily, practically dragging him along with her. "So, what course did you pick out, Adrien?"

"Uh, the Hero course."

"Oh did you! So did I!"

"Huh? I thought you wanted to be on the -"

"Well, I dropped that. Too messy." Chloe brushed him off quickly. It was at this moment that she noticed Marinette, dusting herself down of all the dirt she had gotten on her clothes after Chloe had rudely pushed her aside. "She's here?... Of all the..."

"Chloe?"

"This won't take a second, Adrikins. Come on!" Without giving Adrien any time to understand, she dragged him along, towards the blue haired girl.

"Uh oh." Alya muttered to herself.

Marinette, frankly, wanted to avoid this girl as much as she could. She hated Chloe. She really, utterly detested her, and just wanted to avoid conflict with her altogether if she could avoid it. That wasn't on the agenda today however. Chloe wasn't going to let her get away without hurtling some abuse at her. She ended up hiding slightly behind Alya, not enough so anyone could say she was, but enough to make her feel more secure.

"You're here?" Were the first words Chloe said to Marinette, filled with disgust and repulsion. "I'm amazed they're even letting you apply!"

"Do you - Is there some sort of problem you have with her?" Alya asked Chloe, not budging an inch. The girl’s eyebrow was raised, hiding a beauty mark that was just above the right eye. Allowing Marinette to hide behind her, Alya stood firm. She’d barely exchanged words with the blonde girl in front of her, and already she could feel the bandwidth collecting in her palms to unleash holy hell if need be.

"What business is it of yours... Whoever the heck you're supposed to be?"

"My names Alya Césaire." Alya firmly stated. Marinette was impressed with how she spoke to Chloe, not backing down. She almost felt intimidated by the brown-skinned girl. "And I'm here to sign up for the Hero course, so you bullying someone is my business. There's no need for it."

"Ha!" Chloe laughed, clearly mocking Alya. "You're here for the Hero course? Well you're out of luck, because me and Adrikins are too!"

Adrien could only pull a face towards Alya to let her know he wasn't on board with this entire thing. "Chloe, come on... That's enough, this isn't really..."

"And I suppose you're here for the course as well, Marinette?" Chloe snapped. "Don't even bother with it! You're Trait isn't going to help you in actual conflict! Stay in your home with you-"

"Chloe." Adrien said, snapping all of the sudden. All three sets of eyes focused on him, glaring at Chloe, and very firmly grabbing hold of her wrist. He stared straight at her for a few seconds, before speaking slowly. "I said, that's enough. Let them decide what they want to do." He let go of her wrist.

Chloe just snorted. "Best of luck, Marinette. God knows you'll need it." With that, she walked off, up the steps, and past every other person, into the building. There were noises of complaint and annoyance, but they quickly dropped.

Sighing, Adrien looked at the two girls in front of him. "Sorry, about her. She's - She's not all bad, really."

"Your friend there bullied me for years! Marinette snapped at the blond model angrily. "Don't try and tell me she's not 'All bad'!"

Adrien frowned and stepped back, his hands up in a surrendering fashion. "I - I know she's kind of... Uh... Unpleasant at times, but... Well..." He couldn't really defend Chloe's actions, and he knew that very well. He didn't approve of them. Ever. They were inappropriate. Unnecessary. Unfitting someone who claimed that she wanted to be a Hero. He sighed again. "My uh, my name's Adrien Agreste." He offered his hand to shake.

Alya accepted, firmly shaking his hand. "I'm Alya Césaire"

"I heard." Adrien said with a smile. "You're applying for the Hero course too, huh? Well... I think standing up to Chloe for this girl here... That's pretty Heroic in itself."

Warmed by his straightforward honesty, Alya smiled back at him. "Thanks!"

Breaking their handshake, Adrien offered his hand to Marinette, but she refused. As far as she was concerned, this boy was friends with Chloe. If her previous school experience had taught her anything, it was not to trust people who Chloe claimed were her friends. It never, never ended well for her. Instead, she just told him her name. "Marinette."

"I uh... You taking the Hero course too?"

"The Design course."

"You like to Design?" He was met with absolute silence. "Right... Of course you do. Otherwise, why would you even bother? Aha..." He laughed, awkwardly, before he spoke again. "Well... Heroes can't do what they normally do without their costumes. They help us, they support our weaknesses... Without them, we're pretty much useless, and without Heroes, Designers are pretty much useless... So, in my eyes, Designers are kind of like Heroes in their own light."

He was only met by more silence. Marinette was convinced he was mocking her. Someone on such friendly terms with Chloe? There had to be some joke in there somewhere she wasn't getting.

The two did not start on the best of terms.

* * *

 

The first day saw the registration and the orientation of the students. Each student was assigned to a class, and in those, they would be given basic introductions to their classmates, their courses, and various other bits of information that they needed.

Adrien found himself in a fairly barren classroom with about twenty five students in it, all here for the sole reason of seeing the school. Some would be aiming for the Hero course. Others might be interested in the Valour course, or the Design course. They were all mixed up together for the first day, since none had technically been accepted yet.

Looking around, the model found a seat next to someone who sat alone, wearing a red baseball cap, a set of headphones around his neck, and a blue t-shirt. Since it was the only free space in the classroom, he didn't have much of a choice regardless.

The boy he sat next to seemed very happy someone finally chose to sit by him. He opened up conversation quite eagerly and readily, with a smile on his face. "Hey, dude!"

A bit taken aback, Adrien paused for a few seconds before greeting the person he sat by. "Hello."

"Name's Nino." The boy said, offering his hand as a sign of greeting. "Lahiffe." He added.

"Adrien Agreste." The Teleporting Trait user replied, returning the handshake. "What course you taking?"

"Hero, obviously." Nino replied, taking a drink of water, a smirk on his face. "What about you?"

"Same thing."

"Wicked!" Nino said, patting Adrien on his shoulder. Adrien noted he was a very friendly guy. It was almost refreshing, between Chloe's bullying and Marinette's cold attitude towards him, that someone was just so upfront and friendly.

"I guess we'll be classmates then, if we both get accepted." Adrien smiled. "What's your Trait? What can you do?"

"Dude, check it." Nino said confidently, settling his water on the table. Focusing, and using his hands, tensing them in the position like a claw, he motioned upwards, and as he did so, the liquid rose, following his hands as they commanded it to do so.

Nino Lahiffe. Trait - Hydrokinesis - Nino is able to manipulate liquid, regardless of what the object is. From water, to soda, to blood, to, theoretically, liquidized humans. As long as the object in question is in liquid form, he can manipulate it. However, this does not apply to liquids created from his own body. He cannot generate water, and he also cannot use his own saliva, sweat, blood or other fluids from his body as a weapon. He can, however, use these fluids from another person's body.

Adrien watched, amazed and impressed. He reached out, dipping his finger in the ball of water hovering just above the plastic water bottle. "Whoa... That's awesome! What a Trait!"

"How about you? What's your power?"

"I uh... I'm a Mutant Trait user." Adrien confessed, fearing judgement. "I have the Dual Mutation. I can disintegrate..." As he said this, he turned his hand charcoal black, careful not to touch a single thing around him. "And Teleport." A puff of smoke, and he was now stood up, in front of Nino. Another one, and he was sat back next to him again.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Nino replied quickly. He was smiling, and looking at Adrien like he had just shared something incredible with the entire world.

Adrien liked this guy. Very kind, and very up front. "I'm sorta jealous of your Trait."

"Dude, I'm jealous of yours!" The Hydrokinetic teenager said. "Your Trait looks bad-ass!"

"Yeah, but it's dangerous..." Said the model, sombrely, looking at his palm. "If I'm not careful with it... People I'm close to can get really hurt..." He remembered all too well. That day...

"But you wanna be a Hero, right?" Nino asked. "You've got a dangerous power, but you wanna use it to help people. That's awesome, man. It's really noble."

Knowing him only for a few moments, Adrien had been given more kind words, more encouragement, more friendship and kinship than his father had given him in years. Nino understood him. He knew why he wanted to be a Hero, after just a short conversation with him. He smiled at Nino. "You're alright."

* * *

 All students were given orientation on their first day to see how they would adapt to school life. Following the millennia since Traits first became a thing in accepted society, there had been many a time in which a student with a dangerous, deadly power was accepted into a school, only for violence to ensure within a few days. The most infamous occurrence of this being in the United States, in which over thirty students were killed by an unstable student with a deadly Trait that became known as ‘Powderkeg.’

After that, it became very common to evaluate students during their behaviour at orientation. Many bloodbaths had been avoided by evaluating by personality evaluations, which was now an accepted practice. What scared people was that the Powderkeg incident had only happened a few years ago, reviving those every real fears, and reminding everyone that violence was never far away in this world.

The key flaw in this system, however, was that every student knew that this was how they would be evaluated. Someone like Chloe, a person who would gladly fake their way through to get their goal, was able to act their way throughout the day. Even if Marinette testified against Chloe's method acting, there was no proof in her favour.

So that sucked.

Orientation lasted a full seven hour day, with a break in between for lunch. The lunch hall was large, easily capable of seating well over five hundred students at one time. The food was traditionally French, and for the students who didn't particularly enjoy that, imports from other countries like Spain, Britain and America were also common. There was something for all students.

There was even a large screen television in the corner of the room. Tuned to the news, of course, just so there was something to keep the students occupied. There were a few seats around it, some pulled up by students who wanted to watch, but mostly it was a social area. The vast majority of students weren't interested in world affairs.

Marinette hadn't particularly been interested in the news station. She had sat there alongside Alya because there were free seats there, no other reason. So far, the school was, in a word, incredible. Each facility could boast the best equipment, teaching, and enthusiasm for teaching in the entire country, and with very good reason. They all had the beat facilities for the courses the young students wanted. The Design room had been a fashion lover's paradise, filled with every kind of material you could name, rows of desks littered with equipment any respectable designer would need to work their magic. The teacher they had been assigned was an incredibly friendly middle aged woman who pointed ears, like an elves. It was everything Marinette had imagined. More than she had imagined.

"They had everything!" Marinette told Alya, recounting the day's adventure so far. "This school... It's amazing!"

"They don't call it the best in the country for nothing, that's for sure." Alya agreed, taking a drink of her can of soda. Her phone was on the table, and she would hit buttons on her touch screen as she spoke. Mairnette had discovered she was very tech-literate. "The Hero course has some incredible stuff... Huh? Is this a movie?"

Looking towards the television screen, Marinette had to admit, it looked like something out of an action movie. The Arc de Triomphe was on the screen, surrounded by police forces, all with their various abilities, standing off against a Villain. According to the text underneath the rolling footage, the villain was known as Terawatt, an electric type Trait user. He was stood atop the French monument, with a hostage in his grip. A child.

What concerned Marinette was the fact that the footage had the 'Live' banner on screen right now. "I don't think so..." She said, focused now on the screen.

Villains had become as common as Heroes. People born with power often allowed it to go to their heads, and wound up thinking themselves above the law. Above people who they saw as inferior as them, due to their weaker Traits. Many of these Villains resorted to crime and violence. Seeing this sort of thing wasn't even uncommon anymore. It was sort of routine.

That didn't mean it was accepted as Heroes were. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Heroes were loved, and Villains hated.

Many students watched now, fixated and horrified by what they were seeing. While it wasn't uncommon, seeing a Villain who would do this to a kid was never not terrifying. It was a grim reminder of the world they inhabited. What scared the students watching was that they knew this Villain, Terawatt, had no chance of escaping. He must also know that. This was a last ditch attempt to save himself. A final stand.

So he would definitely follow through with any threats he made.

"Jesus, that poor kid..." Alya said, almost silently. "He must be freaking terrified.."

The next thing Marinette heard was a lightly explosive puff, and then a dash of smoke filled her vision.

* * *

 It was dumb. It was foolhardy. It was reckless. Adrien knew this all perfectly well, making another Teleport. He couldn't be far now. Using his Teleportation Trait wore him out if he used it for too long. It was like running. If you run for too long, you run out of breath. His Teleportation power relied on him having the stamina to support it. Being physically fit, Adrien had built up plenty of stamina, but jumping one or two miles at a time was draining, even for him.

Still, he refused to stop using it.

He didn't even really think about it. He just did it. He didn't make the choice to go to the Arch de Triumph. He just did.

He had to save that kid.

It wasn't a matter of him wanting to. It wasn't a matter of doing it for glory. To prove he was better than other students. It wasn't even a matter of it being right.

It was because he had to. To help start, even just in a small way, to begin to atone for what he'd done.

Moving as quickly as he could, he dashed across another rooftop, Teleporting at the last possible second, allowing himself the furthest distance. He kept on going as much as he could, until finally, he reached the site of the Arc de Triomphe. He saw the police sirens, the officers in question, and the Villain, atop the massive monument, with the child he had grabbed by the neck, a bolt of blue lightning in his hands. He screamed something about the officers backing down, or he would electrify the child.

Adrien quickly went over what he knew about Terawatt. The news said his Trait was Conductive Static - As long as he was touching metal, he could amplify his blue lightning powers. That had to mean that Terawatt had some metallic objects on his body, probably his arms, seeing as his Trait seemed to be manifested in his hands.

Adrien felt his fists tighten.

This was where he started to make up for what he had done. With one final breath, he Teleported.

* * *

 

"What the hell is he doing?!" Alya yelled out loud, seeing Adrien materialize in front of Terawatt.

The entire lunch hall became a chaotic in that moment, with a hundred people shouting, and the ones who weren't came over to see what all the fuss was about. New quickly spread between students that the Teleporter was a person who was applying as a student at the school, as well as the legendary Gabriel Agreste's son.

"Is he insane?!"

"What's wrong with him?!"

"He's crazy!"

"He has to know..." Alya muttered to herself, just loud enough so anyone next to her would hear. "He has to know the punishments for using Trait's without actually being a Hero during this sort of situation... He won't be accepted... He won't be accepted into any school in the country!..."

Marinette just watched, jaw ajar.

* * *

"Back off, right now, or I'm gonna load this kids brain with 20,000 Megawatts!" Terawatt bellowed, blue sparks flying off of his wrist mounted steel amplifiers and past his palms, crackling as the oxygen around them reacted, shorting them out rapidly.

"Relax. I'm only here 'cause I wanna talk to you." Adrien said, knowing full well he was only stalling for time. He just needed Terawatt to either attack him, or try to attack the child. In that moment, he would be vulnerable to a head on attack. He'd have to drop his guard in order to make the movement, and Adrien could take advantage of something as small as a second's weakness.

He knew for a fact Terawatt wasn't going to back down. He was in far too deep already. There was no obvious benefit to standing down now. Even if he did, he'd be looking at life imprisonment. His Trait would be restricted in all forms. He'd never see daylight again. Asking him to surrender now was a waste of everyone's time.

None of this stopped the blond model from shaking underneath this exterior he was showing.

"I told you to step back!" The Conductive Static Trait used ordered, letting a few more sparks fly.

"Kid, you doing alright?" Adrien asked. He didn't get a response, seeing as the child was too terrified to even move. Adrien didn't know, in hindsight, how Terawatt even got him as a hostage, and how he'd even gotten atop the Arc, but he wasn't going to question it now. "Just hold on, you're gonna be fine."

For whatever reason, that seemed to tick off the electrical Villain more than anything else. Perhaps it was because Adrien was paying more attention to the child hostage now. Perhaps it was because Adrien wasn't following the Villain's orders. Perhaps the Villain's short fuse just snapped, but he aimed his hand, covered in electrical energy, and fired. "Pay attention to the actual threat here!"

That was it.

His opening.

Adrien Teleported in that exact moment, to an inch in front of Terawatt. Without wasting even a second, Adrien launched a deadly front kick, knocking the Villain in the face, knocking him back, and sending him, Adrien and the child all off the edge of the giant monument.

There was only two words that could describe Adrien's plan here - Fricking, Dangerous.

Falling down, Adrien slammed Terawatt's head again, causing the Villain to loosen his grip on the child in pain. He activated his Destruction Trait, and slammed it onto Terawatt's wrists, destroying his ability to amplify his static Trait, leaving him a far weaker opponent, and damaging his wrists. Adrien grabbed hold of the petrified child, and yanked him from Terawatt's clutches. Teleporting a passenger wasn't something Adrien was particularly skilled at, as it lowered his range, and required him to work with a lot more of his stamina, but he didn't exactly have a choice in this situation.

Feeling the rush he always felt when he Teleported, Adrien landed on the ground with the child safely in hand. He wasted no time in letting the child, unmoving and now, unblinking, go, as he turned to face the still falling villain.

He was tempted to let the Villain fall. He would admit it openly. He felt like he would save everyone here a lot of grief if he just let Terawatt splatter. The child was clearly traumatized, unable to even cry at this point, staring into the distance without a word. It felt almost right to just let this small dole of justice be done.

But that wasn't what a Hero would do.

He teleported straight back, and gripped hold of the Villain.

Only to notice that said Villain was letting sparks fly. Adrien then realized. Static Conduction. He didn't need a metal. He needed something that conducted electricity.

The human body is 80% water.

Adrien himself was a huge lightning rod.

He thought fast, knowing if he let this attack on him happen, his insides would be charred. He could let Terawatt fall, but that wasn't Heroic. He could just hope he could overcome it, but that could cripple, or even kill him. Thinking of a plan, Adrien remembered - His Destruction Trait!

While the visual effect applied to only his hands, forearm, and the veins in his upper arm and shoulder, the actual effect resonated with every single vein in his body. When he used his Trait, he lost most of the feeling in his arms, as his nerves were being suppressed, in order to prevent damage to them. It didn't limit his movement with hands when he used this power - But it made pain a hell of a lot more manageable. In this case, it would act like a ground wire - Absorbing the electricity and redirecting it to basically negligible damage!

Moving quickly, and activating his Destruction Trait faster than one could blink, he threw his arms to either side, just as the static shock-wave flew into his body and his system. To a normal human, 100,000 Gigawatts would be instantly fatal.

To Adrien, with his Destruction Trait, it felt like someone hitting him with a feather duster.

"What the - " Terawatt yelled, running out of static charge to manipulate. His sparks finally flew out. He had short-circuited his own limit, and had failed to even cause an impact on the teenager on top of him. He was at Adrien's mercy.

"You damn - " Adrien slammed his palm onto Terawatt's face, deactivating his Destructive powers at the very last second. He then Teleported, both him and Terawatt, straight into the ground, slamming the Villains bald head into the concrete as he did so. "- Villain!"

Terawatt was knocked out instantly. And all of Paris saw Adrien Agreste, not even an official school student yet, take him down.

* * *

 It wasn't a surprise to basically anyone that Adrien was accepted into Collège Françoise Dupont that very same day. There were supposed to be punishments in place, but Adrien had saved a child's life, so he was let off easy. The school saw this action all unfold. Adrien Agreste, a Dual Mutation holder, son of the renowned Gabriel Agreste, and a boy who never let an incident like that go by... He had the true makings of a Hero right there and then. He didn't even need any further evaluation. He submitted his form that very day, accepted and welcomed into the Hero course.

That day, it rained when it was time for the many students to leave. Adrien wished Alya and Nino the best of luck, hoping to see them again when they got their results back, and accepting a handful of compliments and pats on the back. The entire school had been, in a word, amazed by Adrien. He reminded them all why they were even applying to this school - To be Heroes. To be like him.

It hadn't been a Heroic thing Adrien had done, he thought. In the end, it was a selfish thing. He hadn't done it with the moral feeling of it just being right - He did it to help bury his own guilt. What sort of Hero did this sort of thing for self-gratification?

He looked at his hand. What sort of a person did that make him?

"Hey."

Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, Adrien turned his head, and saw Marinette, stood behind him. Noticing where he was sat on the steps, Adrien couldn't notice that, along with his upraised umbrella, he was directly in the way of her progress down the stairs. "Oh, sorry, I'm in your way." He moved over to the side, allowing her to step past him.

She didn't do that however. Instead she just sat next to him.

"Um... What're you doing?" Adrien asked, a bit confused. He was under the impression Marinette disliked him.

"The uh... The rain... I'm just waiting for it to die down a little." Marinette explained to the blond teenager sat next to her. "What about you? You've got an umbrella. Why're you here?"

"Oh, I uh... I just needed a minute, that's all... I haven't had a moment to myself since I... Well, did something very stupid, frankly." Adrien managed to laugh lightly at himself. "I just needed to take a second to catch my breath."

"Really?... I didn't think it was stupid at all." Marinette said, catching Adrien's attention. "I mean... No one else even made the effort to even look like they were going to try what you did... You just... Did it, not even thinking about the consequences... You could have been denied entry to the school, but you didn't even think about that."

"You make it sound like it's something Heroic..." Adrien muttered with a sigh. "I just did it because... Something bad happened to me when I was a kid... And I haven't been able to forgive myself for it since." It was odd to him, that he could easily confide in this girl, who detested him as far as he knew. She didn't interrupt him. She just listened to him. "Hahah... I guess that's sort of a selfish thing to say, isn't it? I'm not being a Hero because I think it's the right thing to do... I'm being a Hero because it's the only way to make myself feel better about myself. Not very Heroic, huh? Heheh..."

"Why isn't it?" Asked Marinette, tilting her head slightly. "I mean, you messed up... And you want to make up for it. That sounds like a noble reason to be a Hero to me." She smiled at the blond model. "A child could have died today, but you saved them. I don't think that kid, or his parent's, are gonna be too concerned with your motivations." Letting out a sigh, Marinette continued. "I... I wanted to apologize. About earlier... You know, today, when I first met you, with Chloe. I... I saw you with her and, I guess I just assumed you were like her... That was... Unfair of me."

"I... Know how Chloe can be." Adrien confessed. "...It was wrong of me to try and defend her like that. There wasn't an excuse for how she acted... Or how she treated you during your school time together... I... I apologize. For me and for her."

"Don't apologize for Chloe! She can... You don't need to say sorry. It was my fault."

"And you don't either... I... Didn't take it personally." Adrien stopped for a few seconds. Should he delve a bit deeper into his past with this girl? Would it make a difference? He knew that really, it wouldn’t but he felt like he wanted to. To vent a bit. To explain a bit. If only so the girl would understand. "I... I haven't been to a public school before today."

Marinette turned to look at him.

"My father had me home schooled. He only let me come to this school because the laws they put in place because of Trait's means that all children have to have some formal education. You know, so everyone can be registered and evaluated and that sort of thing. So... I wasn't too sure how to really... Act around people. And... Well, I understood how you felt. So, don't worry about it."

Marinette smiled and looked down the staircase to the streets, a few cars passing them, light dancing in the water as it fell from the sky.

"...Why do you want to be a Hero?" She suddenly asked.

Adrien bit his lip. "...Because, I hurt someone very close to me. And I want to make her proud so maybe, she'll forgive me."

"It's better than why I want to be a Designer." Marinette joked. "I just want to be one because... I like it."

"Nothing wrong with doing something you enjoy."

"I don't know..." The blue haired girl confessed.

Standing upright, Adrien stretched out, clicking a few of his bones. "I don't see anything wrong with it."

"Are you going now?"

"I should, or my father is gonna kill me." Adrien sad, and he held out his umbrella for Marinette. "Here."

"Huh?"

"You don't have one, right? Here, take mine."

"But - But what about you?"

"I'm a Teleporter, remember? I'll be there and back inside twenty seconds if I put my mind to it." He held the umbrella closer for Marinette. "Here, I insist."

He was nice, Marinette thought to herself. How could she have managed to misjudge someone this kind, this nice, so badly? How was it even possible that she had done that? She reached out to take the traditional French water shield but she stopped, realizing his hand was on the handle. They had a game of back and forth, before Marinette was able to take the large, black umbrella from the model boy in front of her. He smiled warmly at her.

In that moment, Marinette found it hard to breathe.

This boy, this model, this kind... This handsome boy... This Heroic boy... This soft hearted individual... She was suddenly completely captivated by him. The two of them locked eyes, and Adrien kept his warm smile. He was warm. Not in the physical sense, but she was certain he was warm in that sense also... But this aura he gave off... This warm, basking glow she felt, just standing next to him...

She was cut off from her thoughts when the Umbrella suddenly shut around her, enclosing her into darkness. She pulled herself out of it after a brief struggle, to see Adrien laughing good-naturedly along with her clumsy misfortune. She managed to nervously laugh along, captivated with his laugh.

"Well, I should be going." Adrien chucked, turning around and facing away from Marinette. "I hope you get accepted here. You're a nice person."

"Th- Thank you... Y-You a person, too nice - I mean, nice, you, too, are a perso - I mean, um... You're a nice person too?"

Adrien laughed again, before he gave her a quick wave. "See you around, Marinette." And with that, he disappeared into a puff of dark smoke.

Marinette felt her heart beating fast, and her cheeks red. "What - Why am I stuttering? I don't stutter..."

* * *

 

Something happened to Marinette that day. That day, she became convinced that while she loved fashion, she needed to do something to help society more. Designers worked tirelessly, and she loved to work on new clothes... But... Her Trait could be put to so much better use...

Adrien had inspired her... She could do better.

She could be someone better than who she was now.

The next day, she was accepted. 

Into the Hero Course.

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few quick-fire notes - Adrien is more assertive in this story, but he is still the soft kind-hearted guy we all know and love. Tikki and Plagg DO exist in this universe... I'm just toying with concepts for them. It is POSSIBLE they may be Humans, or may be animals that have Traits. I'm not sure yet. Marinette is still a more nervous individual. She'll gain more courage in the next few chapters. Everyone's Trait's have more or less been decided, but are still open for change until the second their Trait's are published. Alya's Trait is inspired, but not equivalent to her Lady WiFi powers. There will be OC's, and plenty of them, created by me, and a few from you guys if you feel like submitting some - You'll see in later chapters.  
> "Powderkeg", is a reference to American mass shootings - Not gonna get into the discussion, I simply feel that IF we all had superpowers, we'd be a hell of a lot more likely to use those than a gun to kill each other. Particularly in schools.


	4. Origins Of An Unlikely Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the year goes by, the second year, and end of year tests draw closer. Stress runs though every student in the CFD, with Nino's solution being to go see a movie to unwind. Marinette and Alya get dragged along for the ride.

In the year that had passed since they had enrolled at Collège Françoise Dupont, or the CFD as many of the students came to call it, both Adrien and Marinette had been putting everything that they had. The first year for students had been General Studies, things that every single student in the country was set to know. The difference for people who took a Hero course, Valor course, Elite course, or any other course related to Heroics, this had to be crammed into a single year, whereas others would have four or five years. It had been tough work, but every student in their class had managed to do it. Determination and dedication were all a singular trait everyone shared, all aiming to be the very best that they could be. 

Every Trait was unique, but the Hero course had some incredible people within it, and some incredible Traits to match. Many of them hadn't even used their Traits yet throughout their school life, which was frustrating to some. They had wanted to finish their General Studies as quickly as possible, but it had taken the entire year. The returning week of their second year was for everyone to get back to the routine, and to prepare for the end of week test they would have to complete. By the end of the week, once the final tests of the year were done and marked, they would go straight into the Heroic aspects of the course - Something everyone in the class was longing for.

The group had two teachers who taught them throughout their general studies sessions, although there was a universally preferred teacher regarding this. Miss Caline Bustier was the class favorite, due to her kindness and helpfulness towards her students, and her understanding of their frustration regarding the slow progress through General Studies. Her Trait was Angel Wings - From her back, she had two very large, and very beautiful, wings that resembled those of an angels. They were strong enough, despite their smaller size, to give her flight and aerodynamic capabilities. Her body was also adapted to deal with the requirements for flight. A downside was that they were prone to breaking if too much for was applied, and could take a long time to recover. Along with this, her bones were far more lightweight than most other Humans, meaning that her bones are fragile, and prone to breaking. Her wings were also huge, spanning up to a good fifteen meters from wingtip to wingtip when fully extended. 

Then there was Ms. Mendeleiev. No one seemed to particularly care for her a great deal. She was strict, sharp tongued, and completely indifferent to the irritation of her pupils, demanding that they do the work, regardless of how tedious it was. Many students did as they were told however, thanks to her Trait - Paralysis. Willing it, and keeping her eyes on a certain individual for no more than five seconds, she could cause every single muscle in a person's body to freeze, making them totally immobile. She never hesitated to use it on unruly students.

One thing both their teachers had in common, however, were incredible Traits, but at the same time, totally mundane. Causing an opponent to halt in their tracks, and have wings, these were Traits that existed in many places, some of them far superior to their teachers. A famous case with wings, for example, was a Hero who had metallic wings, that were razor sharp, and yet, here was Miss Bustier, teaching, instead of that Hero. It was just another reminder, the person behind the Trait could make all the difference. A perfect fighter, a perfect Hero, could use whatever they had to hand to fight in the name of justice.

As the second year approached, and the General Studies were finally coming to an end, a test had been prepared for the students. This test assessed not only their skill at General Knowledge, but would help assess them for next year. Those who failed the course were dropped. Harsh credentials such as this helped the school focus on training the most promising students. The test would include not only written knowledge, but physical ability also. Many students struggled as the end of year came around.

Adrien Agreste however, wasn't one of them.

His issue was he was too helpful.

* * *

"Marinette, seriously girl. Go. Talk. To him." Alya pestered, nudging her friend with her palms to do it if she was going to, trying to literally push her into the room Adrien occupied.

Both the Broadband Trait user and Marinette were outside the gym room of the school. Currently, Adrien, Nino, and Nathaniel were inside, using the equipment. Adrien and Nino had persuaded Nathaniel to come along with them, in order to _'Toughen him up_ ' for the next year, encouraging him to show off a little, and demonstrate his Trait. While it sounded Jock-and-bully-like, Nathaniel had expressed a desire to get better at using his Trait... Whatever it was, and Adrien was pretty much the guy to go to for that. Tough love, as it were.

It had been Marinette's idea to come here, knowing that Adrien was inside. She wanted to speak to him. About anything. Something. Whatever, just something to spark a conversation with him. After speaking with him on their first day, the blue haired girl had developed a huge crush on the model Dual-Trait user, to the point where she could hardly even string together a coherent sentence when merely in his general area.

For the previous year, it had been days upon days of Alya trying her damnedest to get the Conversion Trait user to talk to the blond boy, but to next to no avail whatsoever. Each time, something had gone wrong. Adrien's various commitments, Marinette's own inability to use coherent language, Chloe being... Chloe, or something else getting in the way.

Marinette peered from the window of the gym room, spotting Nino and Adrien encouraging Nathaniel to practice his Trait on them. Adrien was, as per usual, in her black vest which she was certain he had about seven of, and his gym trousers, which were a very dark blue often baggy. He was stood by Nino, who was in a sort of similar getup.

"Come on, Nathaniel!" Adrien shouted. "Come at us!"

"I uh... Really don't feel comfortable with this..." The red headed teenager replied, awkwardly. Marinette had never seen Nathaniel and Adrien interact before, so them both being here struck her as weird. Nathaniel was a shy person as it was, not really talking, or even interacting with other people much.

But then again, that seemed to just be the sort of person Adrien was. He was warm and approachable, despite being awkward himself.

"I promise you, man, we'll be fine. Bring it on!" Adrien yelled again, encouraging the shy student. "Don't worry about it, it's just us here! Show us what you can do!"

Nathaniel gave another worried look, but he sighed in resignation, and his index finger on his left hand glowed. On his exposed right forearm, he ran his glowing finger along the skin, and before him, a large, spinning ninja star appeared, firing itself at Adrien and Nino.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg - Trait - Sketch - Nathaniel is able to draw, and create, anything he desires. When using this Trait, his finger of choice will glow, and he must draw with this finger. He can only use this Trait on his own skin, and it will appear in front of him. Any creations he makes will follow his commands. However, a drawback to this Trait is, if he uses it too often, he will suffer the effects of arthritis, despite not actually having it. Additionally, when he begins a drawing, he cannot stop it, meaning he only gets one draft to complete something to his satisfaction, which can be difficult when in combat. 

Adrien and Nino both ducked down, avoiding the giant spinning star. The contraption smashed into a wall before erasing itself from existence - The damage to the wall was irrelevant. It was already covered in burns and cracks and holes from various other Trait users practicing their abilities in this very room.

After skidding to a halt, Adrien smirked. "So that's your Trait..."

Nathaniel went red in embarrassment and looked away. He was very shy regarding his own abilities, heavily critical, and immensely humble. He truly did not think his ability was all too impressive. Being an artist as well outside his fitting ability, he was heavily harsh on his own powers, constantly scrapping ideas and wanting to take his time, but having to rush due to the very nature of combat.. "Not too uh... Great, is it?"

"Dude, are you kidding?" Nino asked in awe, patting the red headed Sketch Trait user on the back. "That's awesome!"

"Absolutely." Adrien said, clapping his hands together. "What're you embarrassed about?"

"I-I mean... Compared to you two..."

"Dude, I'd love to be able to use your Trait!" Nino said with a good humor. "Controlling liquid isn't exactly the funnest thing in the world."

"And my powers are dangerous." Adrien said with a smile. Reminders of his own powers were always present. Looking around him, he saw all sorts of powers he'd rather have as opposed to his lethal ones. "Yours is nice and clean."

"Thanks..."

"Don't be so harsh on yourself." Adrien laughed with a smile. "You've got a cool Trait there. Keep up with stuff like that, and you're golden." After he had said that, he heard the final bell ring throughout the school. "Looks like we're out of time. Come on. Let's get going."

Marinette blushed as she watched this all unfold. All things she loved about Adrien were basically played out right in front of her. He was strong. He was kind. He was selfless. He often went out of his way to help people, even when he didn't have to. He was encouraging. He was sweet. And he always pushed everyone around him to the best of their abilities.

She didn't mind admitting that part of the reason she had chosen to take the Hero course was because of Adrien. He had inspired her so much when he took down Terawatt, she had developed these feelings for him so quickly... Every day she had seen something about him that made her fall for him even further. The way he spoke. The politeness he showed. The kindness. His truly Heroic attitude and personality.

And God _damn it_ , was he cute.

She blushed, before hiding behind the wall again. Her face was dark red and her heart refused to calm the hell down. "I _caaaaaaaan't!_ "

"Girl, you've been watching him like this for a year now! You have to say _something_ to him!" Alya pushed, trying to make sure her friend did not back out of this plan. She swore that Marinette's awkwardness was going to rub off onto her some day.

"I can't Alya! My heart... Ahhh, my heart won't stop beating this fast..." Marinette said, flustered, gripping where her heart would be with both her hands. She was struggling to breathe a little bit. She was always like this when it came to Adrien. Heart pounding, temperature rising, and lack of oxygen entering her lungs as she forgot how to perform the most basic human function known in existence.

Alya sighed in both humor and mild irritation, her hands resting on her hips. A bemused smile crept onto her face and she shook her head. "You're hopeless, girl. You really are."

Marinette sulked, blushing and hiding her face, disappointing once again at her lack of ability to talk to the blond boy of her affections. It just... Wasn't possible for her to talk to him, no matter how much she wanted to.

Just another failed attempt.

Standing up, Marinette quickly left the general area, trying to hide her blush as she made a rapid escape, followed by a simultaneously amused and disappointing Alya, whom shook her head as she followed her embarrassed friend.

They didn't notice a certain blonde haired female student, whom saw them exiting from that general direction as she herself walked down an opposing corridor. Chloe didn't need prior knowledge to know what it was Marinette was running from.

She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in a ball of rage. A year had passed, and she was still furious. _'You... She always said she would join the Design course... And then we finally get here, and you chose the Hero course?... You think because your Trait is halfway decent that you can play Hero?...'_

Inherently, it was a hypocritical thought, not that Chloe even understood the meaning of the word. Her initial choice of course had been the Valour course, but she had changed it when she learned of Adrien's acceptance to the Hero course. She had managed to convince herself she had always aimed for this course. She hadn't made secret her 'crush' on Adrien either, and it didn't take much for the bitter girl to learn about Marinette's feelings towards the rich model in question.

' _That's fine though._ ' She thought to herself, looking at her palms and smirking to herself. ' _So you've got an impressive Trait. Mine will still knock you flat on your face, any time, anywhere_.'

She looked forward to the chance to humiliate and defeat Marinette, once and for all, whenever it would present itself.

* * *

"Dude, you should focus a bit more on yourself." Nino told Adrien as the two of them left the changing rooms, Adrien still throwing on his jacket as they left. They had just separated from Nathaniel, and were headed home to leave the school grounds. Students surrounded them on all fronts, some coming in for just the first time that day, and others leaving along with them. All manner of appearances, Traits, and people went by about their business as Nino spoke to Adrien. 

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean, I've barely even seen you focusing on your own studies lately."

It was true, Adrien hadn't really focused on his own work too much. With the upcoming Heroics year, Adrien had been helping the various students in his class with their training of their Traits, and their Heroic studies, so they would not fall behind. He didn't really gain anything from this, other than aiding his classmates in succeeding into next year alongside him. To him, anyone who wanted to be a Hero deserved to at least have a shot at making it, and seeing people lose hope in their dreams depressed him, so he went that extra mile to try and help them.

He was, however, seriously bordering the line between passing and failing himself. Pushing himself too hard at all times, he was becoming seriously close to passing out in classes. That was just the way he was. Prioritizing other people ahead of himself.

"Can't stop to rest." Adrien said, almost robotic at this point. "If I fail the final test, then I'm screwed."

"Then you need to focus on yourself and not others, dude." Nino told him. Despite his admiration of Adrien's personality, and while he didn't mind helping him train other students from time to time, Nino valued his friends success over Adrien missing out to train others like Nathaniel.

"Hey, Nathaniel and everyone else have been working hard too." Adrien defended. "They deserve to pass just as much as we do. I'm just giving them a helping hand."

"I'm not denying that. Just... Go easy on yourself. You aren't responsible for everyone, man."

Sighing, the Dual Trait user looked over to his Hydrokinetic friend. "I just..."

"Dude, you're stressing yourself out." Nino stopped him before he could say anything more. "Look, you need a break. There's one of those new movies out down at the cinema today. Big release and everything. One of those films where nearly everyone's Traitless and the ones that _do_ have Traits are looked down on. We'll go watch that dude, you need a break."

Adrien bit his thumb in consideration for a few moments, before he relented, biting off a small piece of skin. "I'll have to call father..." He'd have to lie, of course. There wasn't a chance in hell his father would permit him to go and see a movie just because he wanted to go see a movie with a friend. The fashion designer was far too restrictive and controlling for that. He'd need an excuse. "... But... I guess a couple hours wouldn't hurt..." He smiled lightly. "I guess you're right."

Pulling out his cellphone, Adrian flipped through his contacts until he found his father's contact details, and called the number. He pressed his mobile device against his ear as he and Nino walked outside, seeing both Alya and Marinette outside, Marinette apparently flustered about something. Before he could begin to wonder what that was, he heard his father's voice from the other end of the line. "Adrien?"

"Father. I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be a few hours late home today."

He was met by a few seconds of silence, before Gabriel responded, curiosity evident in his tone of speaking. "For what purpose?"

His mind running a mile a minute, he came up with a quick, believable excuse. "Me and a friend are - We're going to do some additional training with some classmates for a few hours. To prepare to the end of year tests." Adrien spent a lot of his spare time training anyway, so it wasn't a stretch to believe he would go and practice with other people who actually could use their Traits against him.

After a few short seconds of silence, his father responded. "...Very well. I expect you back no later than 10PM. With your Trait, you have no excuses for being late. You have a photo shoot come Sunday - Remember that."

"Yes father." Adrien said, instinctively nodding his head despite being on the phone, and hung up. He then nodded at Nino, indicating it had worked.

"Awesome dude." Nino said, lightly punching Adrien's shoulder with a smile on his face.

Adrien punched back, equally as playful, with his own grin. It was a rare occurrence for him to have any sort of freedom from his father, and whenever he did, it was even rarer for him to have anything to do during those, hence his time spent training for being a Hero. Seeing an actual film with a friend was a first, and, despite his own need to work hard to pass the end of year term, he did have to admit - Just seeing a movie with a friend did sound like fun.

"You two look happy." Adrien heard Alya comment from a short distance away. Slightly behind her was a shy Marinette.

Since their first day, Adrien and Marinette had gotten along a lot better than anticipated, but she seemed to have a serious issue when it came to talking to him. He was convinced that it was to do with his stature as a model. She had mentioned her love of fashion, and how she had originally intended to join the Design course, but for some unknown reason, had changed her mind, and taken the Hero course. Adrien liked her well enough. She was a very talented individual, and he admired her Trait very much.

She also didn't seem to need help with her Heroics studies or Trait usage. When he had offered, she had refused, in a frenzy of appreciative denials.

"Poster boy here finally got the go-ahead from his father to have a bit of free time." Nino said, nudging Adrien with his elbow.

"Yeah, after I lied to the control freak." Adrien reminded him, a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "Nino's dragging me to see a movie to unwind a bit."

"You could probably use a break more than any of us." Alya commented. "Who were you helping today? Nathaniel?"

"Yeah. Guy's got an interesting Trait. He needs to show it off a bit more." He didn't want to say what the red-head's Trait was. Talking about another individual's Trait was fine, but some people preferred to keep their private. it was common social decency to not speak of a person's Trait in detail if they did not wish for it to be spoken of to people who didn't know anything about it. Nathaniel was an artist, and like many artists, he was shy. His Trait was literally his art, so he preferred it to be kept quiet.

"What're you gonna go see?" Asked the scarlet haired girl, referring back to the movie.

Nino blew out collected air from a hole in his mouth and tried to remember the name. "Oh... Something - Men?... Apocalypse... Something or other, I can't remember the name. I'll know it when I see it."

"Really glad I'm letting you choose the movie." Adrien muttered sarcastically. Somehow, if Nino couldn't remember the name of the movie, the blond didn't trust the Hydrokinetic's film choice. He couldn't help but smile though.

Alya, being the social girl that she was, didn't hesitate in asking, "Hey, you mind if we tag along? I think we could all use a break."

Stress was apparent for everyone in those few days, so it was incredibly believable. Nino certainly didn't think twice, and nor did Adrien. "Sure thing. The more the merrier, right?"

"Right." Adrien nodded.

By this point, Marinette was going a scarlet shade of red. She knew exactly what her best friend was doing. This was yet another one of her schemes to get her to spend time with Adrien. While she was always grateful her friend pushed her into these sorts of situations to spite her own nervousness and awkwardness...

Adrien smiled at Alya. And then at her.

She blushed once again.

* * *

While Marinette had made no secret, at least to Alya, how much she longed to be able to spend time with Adrien in spite of her crippling inability to do so. This even extended to doing something as simple as standing next to him in the lunch line, but Marinette could barely even manage that. A _date_ would be the best possible occurrence in that spectrum, and would literally be a dream come true, albeit the most unlikely one also, due to, again, her own terrible shyness.

So this was the closest thing.

But oh _boy_ , was she not prepared for something like this.

Alya had a habit of pushing Marinette to do things she really, really didn't want to. She'd do them without warning, without consulting Marinette. Like, for example; this exact situation!

The blunette was a stumbling, stuttering, socially awkward mess right now, incapable of making the most basic words sound like words, never mind stringing together a sentence! This was the closest thing you could call a date, wasn't it? Was it? Marinette didn't know, her mind was moving faster than her heart, brain, common sense and logic itself could keep up with.

"Straight line, girl. Walk in a straight line." The Broadband Trait user told her Conversion Trait using friend, putting a hand on her shoulder to help keep Marinette on the correct path.

A few paces behind Adrien and Nino, the young designer's ditzy actions had gone unnoticed, luckily for her. Had she been in their line of sight, there was no doubt that they would have called her out on her less-than-normal method of walking right now.

"Alya, I'm freaking out!" Marinette sharply hissed. "I can't do this!"

"It's a movie, Marinette, calm down." Alya reminded her. She pulled her friend into a one armed hug and dramatically waved her hand behind Adrien, like she was promising the blue haired girl the stars. "Just think - After today, you'll have your excuses to talk with him."

The logic was there. After a bit of social interaction, enough to call one another friends, the barrier of their lack of social interaction would be gone, making him more likely to be responsive to her if she engaged in conversation... But... "I'm too nervous to talk to him, that's the problem here!"

"Well you'd better get over that quick." Alya nodded, indicating a certain blond teenager slowing his walking pace, so he could engage in conversation with the two girls whom had been falling back. While shy, Adrien was a rather social person. He would engage in conversations with people, even start them, even if he did end up looking like a total dork in the process.

Marinette felt a small bead of sweat run down her forehead, and her heart skipped a beat, before making up for that missed beat a hundred fold. Alya patted her on the back, trying to encourage her to at least _try_ to talk to the boy she liked.

It would be easy to shake off Marinette's feelings as just a childish crush. She had fallen for the cute boy in class. How cliche that would be. The truth was though, it was far deeper than that. Marinette hadn't fallen for the pretty face he had, but that was a nice bonus. She'd fallen for someone she admired. Someone who inspired her. Someone who was truly Heroic in all aspects of his existence. He was talented. He was skilled. He had an amazingly rare dual Trait, and he worked the hardest out of everyone she knew. But again, this could all be attributed to her childish feelings for him. But no. He was a model, and he did many activities outside of school, but what she loved about him was that he never once put himself above anyone else, when he, of all people, probably was above everyone around him. He went out of his way to help them, even when it risked he himself losing out on various activities, or free time. He put himself to their level willingly, and here he was now. A kind soul. A Heroic person. Someone she admired. Someone she loved - Not someone she crushed on - Someone she _loved_.

And someone who was currently trying to spark a conversation with her.

"So," Adrien started, once he was level with the two girls' walking pace, "How've you girls been doing?"

"As good as can be expected I suppose." Alya said, smiling at the blond boy. Unlike Marinette, Alya had no issues whatsoever speaking to Adrien, and the two even had a casual friendship. Adrien trusted her and her judgement, so that made it easier for her to cover for Marinette. "I think this one's running on empty though. She's a tad more awkward than usual."

In her head, Marinete both thanked and cursed Alya at the same time for the cover excuse.

"Oh? You doing okay, Marinette?"

There it was again - That genuine concern. That kind voice, and that kind tone. Whenever she heard him speak, it warmed her heart, as well as make her heart flutter. She could listen to his voice for hours, without saying anything, and for a brief, panicked second, that's just what she did, before sharply realizing that she was supposed to be responding to the owner of said voice. "Fine! Fine, I'm - I'm - I'm f-fine!" It had been a tad louder than she would have liked. Another strike on the board of embarrassments.

He was somewhat used to her awkwardness anyway by this point, though he still found it a bit odd. Regardless of that though, he choked her current state down to stress. "Hey, I don't know why you're worried about exams." He said, smiling. "You've pretty much got it down, don't you?"

"I - I guess..."

"Your Trait is awesome." Adrien complimented. What that cursed teenager would have given to have Marinette's Trait's instead of his own, evil abilities. His own abilities, so dark they literally made his arms go black and nerves go numb. What a lovely Trait someone like Marinette had. "You'll do fine."

"Th - Thanks..."

* * *

Despite the presence of Heroes, there never really was such a thing as peace. Particularly not in a city like Paris. A large, dense city, with over ten million people residing in the greater area, all with their own unique and powerful Traits. Villains were certain to rise. And if they weren't someone would snap and attack another person with their Trait out of frustration, anger, political difference, or just out of mind crushing boredom.

The downside to a society of superpowers, was that everyone was carrying the equivalent of a gun or a bazooka at all times. Even the most useless Trait can become dangerous and deadly if put into the right hands, and the correct creative mindset. A common example that was often taught in schools was the ability to create a pencil in the palm of one's hand - If placed against a person's temple and then activated, it would kill them, turning a basically worthless power into something terrifying.

It wasn't uncommon, therefore, for films in this society to conceptualize what life would be like without Traits. While universally agreed, it would be a far more boring existence, it would mean that everyone would be put on the same footing, and that they'd have to build themselves up from nothing. In a world of random powers, some were naturally far more powerful than others. In a world without them, you had to gain that power yourself. These sorts of films were very common, and were widely renowned. From high school students racing to get the most developed muscles to become the best fighters, to Humans without wings who dreamed of the ability to fly.

This particular film took the concept a stage further - A universe where some people had Traits, and some didn't. It was akin to the beginning of Traits - Heavy discrimination, conflict, prejudice, and eventually, a war. The war in the real world didn't last long - When an army of people who have nothing but spears, swords, and chamber-pots, go up against an army where one single member might be able to cause literal comets to rain down on you, you weren't looking at a very long battle. All things considered, that war, which marked the beginning of the Gregorian calendar, back in 0-BC, was very bloodless, with only 10,000 casualties being recorded. It could have been a lot more bloody. Since then, Traits had been accepted and welcomed into society.

In this film, however, Traits only occurred in the 1950's, and to a very small percentage of the overall population.

It was an interesting concept to Adrien. It looked at a world in which inequality reigned supreme above all other things. The kind of world he wanted to fight against. The kind of world where he wanted to make everything better than it already was.

That wasn't to say prejudice didn't exist in their world, but to a far lesser degree. When you had two people who could easily demolish a city because of racial, sexual, or religious differences, acceptance and tolerance were valued and nearly enforced with Heroes. The key was discussion. Debate, and respect for one another. Trying to convince the other of one sides arguments, without disrespecting the others very existence. That was the key to the near century of Peace Humanity had enjoyed after the end of the Great Trait Wars.

Adrien had found himself sat next to Marinette, while Nino had sat by Alya. Weirdly, Marinette hadn't sat next to the open seat next to Alya on her opposing side, but Adrien supposed it didn't matter all that much. He would occasionally see her looking at him, but shoot her head right back at the screen whenever he turned to look at her.

Strange girl, she was.

Still... She wasn't a bad person. Adrien had no problems with her. She was kind, and she seemed dedicated to becoming a Hero herself. What had made her change her mind about becoming a Hero rather than a Designer, he didn't know, but after seeing her Trait, he was glad she had chosen to become a Hero. Her Trait had so much potential and creativity, that Adrien would have killed to have that sort of power. Figuratively, of course. He'd had enough of killing for one lifetime.

As he thought about all of this, he noticed, that the lights in the cinema began to flicker, on, and then off again, each light doing this at its own leisure, independent of one another. Seeing as the lights weren't even supposed to be on inside the cinema anyway, this was easily noticeable.

It only got more noticeable when the movie abruptly stopped, and become no more than a giant, white screen. "What the hell?..."

"You uh... Seeing that bro?" Nino asked, nudging his friend.

"Yep. That's... Weird..." Adrien turned to see Marinette looking at him, curious as well. He then turned again, to face Alya. The dark-skinned girl had her eyes closed, and her wrists were glowing. A side effect of the activation of her Trait. She was able to process information being sent via the web at high speeds, depending on the WiFi signal around her. Currently, it was weak, so it took Alya a while to process any articles, livestreams, uploads, and the likes. "Hey, Alya, you seeing anything?"

A few seconds passed, and Alya's eyes shot wide open. "We need to leave. Right now."

"You find something?"

"Oh yeah. We need to go, right now!"

"Yikes." Adrien muttered. Not normally forceful, the scarlet haired girl could be a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be. He trusted Alya's judgement however, and nodded. "Okay then, everyone grab hold of me, or someone else holding me. I'll Teleport us out." He declared, grabbing hold of Marinette's hand, and placing his hand on Nino's shoulder. Alya placed her hand similarly on Nino's other shoulder, linking them all together.

Had Adrien looked at Marinette, he would have seen an explosion of crimson on her face.

Having three passengers was something that caused a great deal of stress. His body wasn't adapted to carry a large number of passengers, his Trait only really developed to travel him from place to place. Due to his physical strength that he had earned via his own body training, he could carry one other person along, with little to no difficulty. Carrying two, or even three, put additional strain on him.

Despite this however, he was able to Teleport everyone out onto the streets, despite the action giving him a painful stitch underneath his rib-cage. Once outside, he immediately collapsed onto his knees, clutching his stomach, just underneath where his left lung would be located. "Rrrrrghh!

Kneeling down to check on him, Marinette tried to give what little comfort she could offer. She didn't think about her embarrassment right now. There was a better time for that later. "Are - Are you okay?"

"Just... Not used to carrying so many people... Puts a bit of pain on me when I use my Teleportation... If I go over my weight limit..." Adrien said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine... Rrrgh... Alya, what was so important that we needed to go?"

Alya glanced around, like she was looking for something. "The web... When I was searching, I found an article, a live feed one... And it said that there was a squad of Heroes chasing a Villain in this area... And that the live broadcast said it was headed for the cinema - Right now."

"Did they say anything about the Trait?"

"Only to stay away. And that it's extremely, extremity dangerous. And destructive."

"Okay... You guys get out of here."

"Come again?" Nino spoke up, looking down at his gasping friend, whom was struggling to stand up.

"You guys go. I've got to go back."

More of that Heroic bravado. Adrien's Heroic personality shining through once again. He wasn't thinking about himself right now. He wasn't thinking about what the law would tell him to do. He was thinking about other people.

"What - Are you insane, dude?!"

"There are still people inside who don't know about that Villain..." Adrien said, still clutching his abdomen. The strain his Trait put on his was enormous if he wasn't careful with it. "I... Can't leave them in there like that."

"Then let us - "

"I'm not in a position to Teleport you guys back in." Adrien reminded them. "I can take maybe one person at a time without suffering negative feedback from my Trait. Nino, your Hydrokinesis won't help here. Marinette's Trait isn't suited for this, and Alya's Trait is too weak because of the crap signal in there to help me Teleport anyone left inside back outside. I'm the best choice to get them out of there."

"W-Wait a second, you can't - " Marinette tried to protest, but before she could finish her sentence, Adrien was gone, in a puff of smoke.

"I swear he's insane." Nino muttered. It wasn't that he wasn't used to this sort of action from Adrien - He just couldn't believe it still. He swore Adrien had no concept of self-preservation. "We gotta go after him!"

As soon as Nino finished his sentence, there was suddenly a rush of people dashing past them, and a number of police officers taking to the streets, fending people off. The large number was, no doubt, in due to the destructive nature of this villains Trait.

"I don't think that's gonna be easy." Alya said, her fists pressed against her forehead. She knew there wasn't much choice, despite not liking it. "Come on, we have to get out of their way."

She wound up dragging Nino out of the area. Marinette didn't move though. She just stared at the occurrences happening in front of her. Adrien was still in there... And she didn't know if he was okay or not... She should have run with Alya and Nino.

But she couldn't.

Instead, she ran towards the barricade.

* * *

Teleporting back into the cinema screen showing room, Adrien was just about to get the last person out of the building. He had managed to evacuate the other people in the showroom, totaling at around 10. It wasn't a lot of people, but it was something at the least. The rest had already run out around the same time they heard the commotion outside.

Strain was taking its toll on the young Parisian's body. Teleporting was like running. Run too much, and you get pains. Carry too much weight while running, you can run less distance. A Trait, after all, was just an extension of the person. A body part. You could strain it. Hurt it. Ruin it. The previous trip had taken him five separate jumps in order to get the passengers outside.

"Last one... Come on..." He muttered to himself, as he scanned the room. No one was there. They must have already run out of the building in the interval it had taken for Adrien to get back. That was a tad on the annoying side that they hadn't thought to mention to Adrien that they were just going to run out, but it didn't matter too much. All Adrien had to do was Teleport back out again.

Attempting to do so however, didn't work. All he got was his rejection feedback, a sharp tensing of the muscles in his body. He needed to recharge his Trait a bit. He'd only need a couple seconds.

Helping these people get out was just another impulsive action he had been a part of. He hadn't felt there was a choice in the matter. He had the power to help. So he helped. There just wasn't anything else to it.

This was pretty much what he trained for, wasn't it? To be a Hero. Heroes did this sort of thing every day. It was their job to do this sort of thing. But he wasn't a Hero, at least not yet, so why had he done it? He just... Felt like he had to. Maybe he had Heroic blood in his veins. Or maybe the guilt he felt every single waking day was so strong it drove him to the most selfless act he could imagine to dissuade it. 

As he thought about this, he felt the ground shake around him, and as he grabbed hold of the nearest railing to support himself, he felt the gust of power, and the rubble fall onto him, heavy and hard, as the rooftop was blown into smithereens above his head. From the rubble, he saw the villain Alya had warned him about.

"Another empty building?" It was a woman's voice, and Adrien, glaring through the dust, could sort of make out her figure. Around her wrists were two semi-spherical objects, presumably to aid her in the use of this destructive Trait she wielded. Around her hips was a bulky, golden belt, and the rest of her was in a green jumpsuit. Just above her hand, was a sort of spherical object, hovering above her open palm. "Oh? No, there's one. You'll do."

"Will I now?" Adrien muttered, still glaring.

Molecular - Trait - Ectoplasm - This Trait allows its user to create a sphere of Ectoplasmic energy in their palms, which can be thrown or used as a melee weapon by its user. This Trait is very destructive, as it can be dangerous if a foreign object it touched by this power, as it can range from blowing it up, to melting it at an atomic level.

This woman wanted a hostage. That's why she was here. Had Adrien not gotten everyone out, she would have had an entire cinema to hold hostage. Now, she didn't have anyone.

Well, she had one person. It was just a shame he wasn't going to comply with her. He felt his Teleportation Trait recharge in his veins. He had enough power to get a few movements in. He moved, quickly getting in range of the Villain in front of him. He flared up his Destruction Trait at the same time, and began to reach out, aiming to destroy the woman's wrist mounted appliances. He didn't know just how strong her Trait was, but he assumed if he destroyed those parts of her costume, her powers would weaken alongside the destruction of her suit.

The woman, Molecular, seemed to care very little, backhanding him with a Ectoplasmic sphere, sending him flying across the street into another building. "What a pity."

 _'What the - '_ Adrien thought as he was tossed casually across the street, feeling his back slam through a brick wall. Intense pain followed, which he kept quiet by gritting his teeth as hard as they would go. It freaking hurt. That Trait was something to be feared. It was incredible destructive, in close and long range. Adrien assumed that Molecular was a criminal whom used her Trait for violent Heroes and police must have caught her in the act, hence her attempts to take a hostage.

Just like Terawatt. Villains never learned, did they?

Picking himself up, Adrien looked around the shop he had been thrown into. His head was pounding, and he struggled to think straight. What was there he could really do against someone like Molecular? Then again, should he even attempt to? Saving civilians was one thing - That was the only reason he had fought Terawatt in the first place, to help save that kid - But taking on a real Villain - A professional Villain- A _real_ evil-doer - was a whole other story. Plus, his Teleportation Trait was weakening.

Not one to back down though, Adrien used his Trait and moved outside. He needed to at least see what he was working with before he made his call.

* * *

Marinette could not - _Could not_ \- Believe she was doing this.

Adrien was in trouble. He needed her help. That was what was making her do this. This isn't something she would do under any other circumstance she could even begin to consider. This was beyond stupid, and for someone like Marinette, doing stupid things was not in any way on the agenda. She was a smart person, and knew when to get involved. This wasn't one of those times. 

But - If there was a Villain, and Adrien needed help...

She wouldn't forgive herself. Not if he got hurt.

Ducking into a closed shop, and finding a way inside, she quickly sought out some various clothes that she'd need. Technically speaking, this would be stealing... But she didn't have the time, nor the patience, to worry about that right now. She found some red and black cloth, and began to use her Trait.

This wasn't Marinette - This felt like someone else. Like some other part of her brain was now in control of her personality, directing her, telling her what to do, and where to go. She didn't feel like herself. She felt... Almost better than herself.

Skilled use of her Trait allowed her to create clothes - With a perfect margin for her exact sizes in the exact right places.

She needed to look the part of a Hero. She didn't want Adrien to know it was her - Mostly because she knew for a fact that if he did, she would never, ever live it down. But also, if she was caught doing this, she would certainly have to suffer the consequences for Vigilantism. At least if she hid her face, she could, maybe, get away with this...

When the hell did she start thinking of ways to skirt the law?

As she created the costume, now red with black polka dots she muttered to herself once again. "I can't believe I'm doing this..."

* * *

"Aaaargh!" Adrien yelled, throwing another flurry of swipes and strikes at Molecular. Every strike was open-palmed, a trick he learned from his various martial arts classes, that was a perfect fit with his Destruction Trait. Each swipe however was countered by a ball of ectoplasmic energy, casually deflecting the hard pressed strikes Adrien threw, over and over again. He struck endlessly, looking for some sort of weak spot in the villains guard and gap. Nothing. Molecular was an experienced combatant, that much was clear. He was in over his head.

He sure as hell couldn't back down though. There weren't any official Heroes to take over. All he was doing was stalling, until someone who was trained could tag out with him and finish the fight. 

"Damn it!" He grunted aloud, swiping with a left hook, which only came into contact with a sphere of energy, clashing once more.

"Give it up, kid." The female Villain said, speaking calmly, monotonously pushing back against Adrien's attack. "I've fought hundreds of Heroes in my time. You won't beat me, I can promise you that much."

Arrogant as this woman was, Adrien knew she was right. This wasn't Terawatt. This was someone who knew how to fight. This was someone who was a real fighter. Someone who knew how to counter close-quarters-combat opponents.

This was a professional Villain. Someone who killed for a living. 

 _Damn_ his own stubbornness. Virtuous as it may be, it was also one of his biggest weaknesses.

He was too worn out to use Teleportation again, using all of his spare energy on his Destruction Trait to counter these balls of energy coming at him.

And even that was starting to have negative repercussions.

Like all Traits, his Destruction Trait had a downside. Using it, rapidly, one strike after another without break, would cause his skin to peel off. It wasn't a gentle experience. He felt the pain in explicit sensation. And it freaking _hurt_. At this point, he was attacking with his bare muscle tendons.

But there was no way he was going to let that stop him...

"Stop!" A sharp voice, loud, crisp, and clear, even through the sound of battle, drew the attention of both the amateur Hero, and the veteran Villain.

Before them stood a girl, and it was very clear this girl wasn't very old. Maybe Adrien's age, perhaps a bit younger. She had dark blue hair, which she allowed to flow freely around her face. The suit she wore was skin tight, and lacked modesty in that department. Features were clear, where they were applicable. The clothing was completely red, and on the outfit, randomly, were black, scattered polka dots. Across the girl's face was an eye mask, with exactly five dots on it, arranged in a symmetrical pattern. Around the back of her head, randomly flowing with her hair, were two red ribbons. Across her hip, a yo-yo, of all things ridiculous in this world. The girl seemed nervous. Understandable, given the opponent she was speaking to.

Molecular just stared at the young girl, like she had just been slapped in the face. Like she had been insulted. "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke?" She looked almost insulted. "Are you supposed to be a Hero?"

The girl visibly gulped, but she didn't falter. "Re-Release that citizen, immediately!" She declared, apparently not even noticing Adrien was still fighting back. It was like she was quoting a poorly written superhero movie. She didn't care how awkward she looked right now though - She was facing someone who could probably kill her in a heartbeat.

Looking at this child, Molecular was reminded, well and truly reminded, why she despised children. This girl clearly thought herself better than her.

She didn't mind putting her in her place.

"Fine." She said, briefly pulling her power from Adrien, only to backhand him across the street once again with the same ball of energy. She didn't hold back. Adrien was across the street and slammed through a wall in less than three seconds.

"A-Adrien!"

"You know him? Molecular inquired, totally disinterested. Before the girl could respond, the Villain shook her head. "On second thoughts, I couldn't care less. What I do care about though... Is what the hell you think you're going to do now."

"H-Huh?"

"You intend to stop me, right?"

The teenage girl froze for just a moment before she responded. "Y-Yeah!"

That seemed to be the only inclination that Molecular needed before launching an attack.

Or at least attempting to.

Before she knew what was happening, a giant, steel cube surrounded her, preventing her from attacking, moving, escaping, or doing generally anything related to attacking the masked girl. She was now trapped, unable to move, unable to fight. Try as she might, the steel was resistant to her Ectoplasm Trait.

The girl sighed. It had been far too close a call for her. She had panicked, for just a second. Her Trait allowed her to build up a wall of steel, due to the small steel screw inside the yo-yo on her waist. It had come in more use than she had ever hoped for.

All of a sudden, there was a Teleporting puff of smoke, and out of it came Adrien, looking between the girl, and the steel cage. He didn't take long to figure out what was going on, and he just looked at the girl, like he had just spotted an angel. "How the..."

"Are- Are you alright?" She asked, looking him over. He was bruised and cut, injuries aplenty. He looked like he had been dragged through a hedge full of nails.

"I'm... I'm fine... How did you... Do this?" Adrien asked, tapping the steel cage. He could hear Molecular's fit of rage, as she slammed her Trait against the metal, to no avail whatsoever.

"M-My T-Trait!" The girl said abruptly, thinking quickly of a fake name. "L-Lucky Charm! I- I can make any object I want appear!" She lied, hiding her ability. "I-I just have to... Transfer the energy into my yo-yo!" Another lie. She had barely even used the yo-yo, but the more she distanced her Trait from her identity, the better. "A-Anyway! I should - I should be going now! Take care o-of yourself!"

Even behind a mask, even when he couldn't see who she was, she couldn't help but stutter around him.

"Wait!"

Her heart stopped. "Yes?..."

"...You're not an official Hero, are you? I don't recognize you... And I know pretty much all the Heroes in this city."

"..No... I'm not..."

"...What do I call you?"

He wasn't asking for her identity - Well he was... But that wasn't what he was referring to right now. He didn't mean that. He knew she wouldn't just give out her identity if she was a Vigilante. There was no way this girl was that dumb.

Marinette's heart raced. She hadn't expected this question. What did she reply with? What did she say? Her mind raced, before coming to an answer quickly. "M - ... Ladybug!"


	5. Contradicting Previous Beliefs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The concept of Vigilantism isn't unheard of in this world of Superpowers. But what about their reputation?...

Ladybug.

Ladybug.

Lady-bug.

Lad-y-bug.

L-a-d-y-b-u-g.

Ever since hearing that Vigilantes name, Adrien hadn't been able to get it out of his head. The name just kept repeating itself in his head, over and over and over again, like it was on a loop. He couldn't stop thinking about that vigilante. About her.

Vigilantes weren't exactly uncommon in this world of powers. It wasn't a rare thing to see people donning a mask and going out to protect their city or home town without the recognition of an official governing body. Since the rise of Heroes however, vigilantism had become an illegal action. It was taking work away from the professionals, and more often than not, untrained Heroes put civilian lives in danger. It was due to the danger vigilante's posed to the general population that Heroes had become a thing. They were the reason schools offered Hero courses. Since that change to society, the number of vigilante's had dropped dramatically.

That wasn't to say they were all gone though. Paris had a few. They were looked down on, despite the work they did. Worldwide, there were many Vigilante's. Laws regarding them varied depending on which country you lived in. In France, for example, they were looked down upon, and despite their actions being illegal, they were rarely enforced. There were maybe a hundred reported cases of Vigilantism within a year.

Adrien had always thought of them as being reckless. Untrained idiots trying to gain valour and fame, glory and money, whereas Heroes were the ones who cared enough to make it their profession. Vigilantes had the reputation of being wild riders, not caring much for anything other than their own brand of what they would call justice. Sometimes, that version of justice could be something well and truly horrific. Something he couldn't even consider. Murders, assault, and acts in the names of Gods and who even knew what else?

But that girl had saved him, in a flash, in an instant. She had clearly been nervous, something rarely seen in Heroes anymore. With all the training and practice Heroes had, it was like second nature to go and save someone like that. Yet this girl clearly didn't have a lot of that, and yet, there she was, still ready to fight and defend him, a complete stranger.

He had fought Molecular, and Terawatt because people had been in danger. That wasn't Vigilantism. That had been self-defence. That had been acting in the defence of others.

Was there really a difference though? The more Adrien thought about it, the less he could convince himself that there was a difference between the two.

He wanted to be a Hero. He really did want to be a Hero.

He felt like he had to be a Hero. To repay the horrific thing he had done to his own mother.

But that was years away.

Could he honestly justify that? Waiting for years before he could finally start to repay his debt to the world for what he'd done?

Had he had it wrong this entire time? Were vigilantes the people who refused to wait, because they felt they had to aid society _right now_? For someone like Adrien, who blamed himself for what he had done, it became incredibly appealing to think of it like that.

Whenever he ran off to fight someone, to save someone, everyone had always told him how worried they had been about him. Nino and Alya had told him he was an idiot, and he'd received a gut punch from Nino, as well as the Hydrokinetic forcing him to promise to not do something so mind-bogglingly stupid again. The fact Adrien's skin on his hands had basically rotted away hadn't helped his case when he had said he was fine.

He needed to find a way to continue to help people without worrying them.

A mask would help do that.

He laughed to himself. A year ago, if you had told him he would have seriously been considering becoming a vigilante, he would have hit you.

Now he was thinking of exactly what he'd need to be one.

* * *

Try as she might, Marinette couldn't focus on her Physics book. Exams by the end of the week, and she still was struggling with her Sciences. Kinetic Energy, Electricity, Electromagnetism, the Solar System and Atoms - That last one would be valuable to a girl with her powers - She wasn't exactly loaded with free time. She had a very strict deadline to get all of this ingrained into her memory.

But the blue haired girl was distracted. Oh boy, was she distracted, by those skin-tight polka-dotted clothes that she had made just maybe 20 hours ago.

Ladybug's appearance hadn't gone unnoticed, and it had been a point of discussion for Heroes and civilians throughout the media outlets. She was one of the only known vigilantes in the entire city now, so being noticed had been expected.

She dropped her pencil on the floor as she let her arm flop to the side.

She hadn't wanted that.

She hadn't been looking for publicity. She hadn't wanted fame. She hadn't wanted to become a talking point for the average Parisian.

She had just wanted to help Adrien... To just make sure he was okay...

And now, Ladybug was the talk of the town. How had it become this?...

Screw learning about Kinetic energy and Joules, she thought as she pushed herself away from her desk on her wheel-equipped computer chair. There were more pressing matters she needed to focus on.

She got out of her seat and walked over to the clothes, hidden just with more clothes she had made. It was basically her 'Throwaway' pile, things she made, that she didn't like, or didn't work, that she would use for something later. Pulling the others aside, she looked at the Ladybug skin-suit and mask, and just stared at it for a while.

Ladybug wasn't Marinette. Ladybug were these clothes. She was looking at Ladybug. The person who saved Adrien Agreste, the person who captured Molecular, the person who became a legend overnight wasn't Marinette. No new outlets were looking for Marinette. Marinette hadn't saved Adrien. Ladybug had.

Touching the clothes, Marinette almost shuddered. "I don't want to be a vigilante..."

She wanted to be a Hero. Adrien had convinced her of that. He had shown her how valuable a Trait could be in the right hands. How strong her own Trait was, and how much more she could do with it. Those conversations, those moments, overwrote an entire lifetime of firm path-finding for a Designer. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be Heroic.

She wanted to be like Adrien.

But Adrien wasn't a Vigilante.

"I should just burn these." She said to herself, grabbing the suit and mask in a bundle, and began to make her way up to her roof. She could get a match or something and set fire to it. It would be a pile of cinders, and she'd never see it again. Ladybug would die in that inferno, and Paris would never hear from her again.

She flung open the hatch to her roof, and threw the jumpsuit and mask in the centre. Her Trait activated as she touched her hatch, and she created a small, thing, wooden stick. Her plants were nearby, and leaning over, she used her Trait again. Fertilizer had been used recently, which contained prosperous. Adding it to the wooden stick she made, Marinette now had a matchstick she could strike against her roof and spark.

And yet... She stared at these clothes she had made.

Was she sure she wanted to do this?

Of course she was!

She struck the match, causing a spark, and finally, a flame, and took a sharp intake of breath.

This was the best choice. Marinette-Dupain-Cheng was not a vigilante. She wasn't a Hero. She was a freaking student, who needed to figure out how the hell Kinetic energy worked, and how Joules were involved, not thinking about something she did to hide her crippling embarrassment around Adrien Agreste.

She held the burning match over the clothes.

For some reason, despite it being such a simple task, Marinette tensed up, and felt her teeth press down on each other.

All she had to do was drop the match, and Ladybug was gone.

Forever.

But... Something inside her... Something that felt like it was being held back from her own consciousness, stopped Marinette. When she had made that costume... When she had worn that costume... When she had saved Adrien, and taken out Molecular... Something happened to her.

She felt... Alive.

Confident.

Free.

Things that a blunette girl like her should have no real right to feel.

Marinette had done something good when she had saved Adrien. She had protected an innocent person from the clutches of a Villain. She had used her Trait to recapture a Villain before they could hurt anyone else. And it had felt good.

Behind that mask, she was more confident, more comfortable.

More... everything.

She felt more Marinette than being Marinette felt.

Was this... Something she was meant to do?

* * *

Siddiq Taslaq made his living by creating inventions that suited the Traits of people who needed specialized equipment. Many Traits were at their most useful with an object or piece of equipment to take advantage of. Creativity was a very profitable area in a society of superpowers, and Siddiq boasted immense creativity and technological understanding. His own Trait aided him in keeping secrets for the... Less than legal requests he would occasionally get. The Arabian man just worked freelance - He didn't question what purpose someone needed something for - He just created it, and took his money. A perfectly legal action in this world of Traits, if a little… Morally grey.

He was fiddling with a spiked tail armament when he heard a knock on his door one day. He wasn't unused to people coming directly to his home to request various things of his for design. It was a common thing for those who wanted total quality. He noted, however, the heavy knock that came from this particular person. He called out, a single order. "Enter."

Adrien knew much about the creative industry that came with Designers, since his father was one. He understood it all well enough, but lacked the technological skill to create himself. If he was going to do this vigilante business he had decided upon - An idea he still couldn't believe he was going through with - He needed to mask his Traits to hide his identity.

His Destruction Trait was easy - Just wear something with long sleeves. That would cover up the corrosive effect it gave his arms. He already had a material in mind for that.

His Teleportation Trait would be a dead giveaway. A black puff of smoke would be very obvious, especially to those who knew him. His school would know who he was in a heartbeat. So he needed to mask it. Siddiq Taslaq was a low-key known Designer, lacking in public popularity, but very high up on the quality of product, second possibly only to Gabriel Agreste. The man knew what he was doing. After all, Adrien sure as hell couldn't go to his father about this sort of thing. His father would figure it out far too quickly. So, he needed an outside source.

"Siddiq Taslaq?" Adrien asked, somewhat nervously. He was rather shy as a person, due to his upbringing. He wasn't totally used to this, but he was managing.

The creator looked up, surprised by what he saw. "Adrien Agreste. Gabriel Agreste's son." He knew who Adrien was, of course. Everyone in Paris knew. Famous model, son of a famous Designer, student at Collège Françoise Dupont, and well known for his Heroic actions against villains before even being an enrolled student. Adrien was very famous in the city, and many people knew him. Siddiq had never expected the young man to enter his house though. Not when his father offered the highest quality goods in the city, and presumably, free to his son. He played along. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You're a Designer, aren't you?"

"I am, but I fail to see a need you may have for me. Your father is Gabriel Agreste. He offers the highest quality equipment in the city."

"I need equipment. And my father _cannot_ know about it."

"The mystery thickens." Siddiq raised an eyebrow, and placed aside the spiked tail modification, and brought his hands together. He would not deny his interest right now. Despite his normal preference to remain in the dark, he indulged in his curiosity. "Your father cannot know... If he cannot know, then this can't be to do with your Heroic's course, can it? So, am I correct in assuming that this is a less than legal requirement?"

"It's nothing illegal." Adrien lied. "I just don't want anything traced back to my father."

"So you prefer it be traced back to me."

"That's the risk you Designers choose to take, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Siddiq commented, laying back in his seat. "In this business of Heroes and Villains, we Designers risk working for the wrong people. We risk being called out for our 'crimes'. We risk it all for the sake of our work." It wasn't a fair system, but it was one that had kept Parisian's safe for a very long time. Designers who were found to work for dangerous people were punished. Many Designers didn't have the choice, however, to turn away paying work. It had become a bit of a cat-and-mouse game to be a freelance Designer. Many kept on, out of passion for their work. "Very well then. What do you desire crafted?"

To answer the question, Adrien activated his Teleportation Trait, disappearing in a puff of black smoke, and reappearing in another puff of similarly black smoke, on the other side of the room. "When I use my ability to Teleport, it produces these dark clouds. I need them to be masked... For stealth reasons." That lie worked well enough.

"That makes sense." Siddiq commented, wafting the smoke away from his head, decimating the smoke into the air around him, making it fan out and disappear. "Your Trait is common, but has its own unique after-effect. Teleporters often have these after effects. It's not uncommon for the user to need to mask them..." Siddiq spoke aloud, a bad habit he had picked up throughout his childhood. "I get many customers who ask me for similar things. It just so happens I may have something to suit your needs."

"Wait, seriously?" Adrien had have been expecting to wait for quite a few days for this sort of technology to be made, so he was surprised that this man claimed to already have that sort of equipment already made.

The Designer stood up from his seat and walked over to his large, mahogany cupboard, one he had made himself, and opened it, to show off a huge number of gadgets he, again, had made himself. There were all sorts of pieces of equipment, some for hands, which included razor claws and knives, feet based boots, presumably that have the user some sort of jumping boost, a special blade and a laser glove. It was clear that Siddiq had such creativity he was fit to burst.

He took a box from the second shelf, and swept some dust off of it. "I designed this for somehow who claimed their Trait cause purple bubbles around their hands whenever they used it. He decided that he didn't want it after I made it."

"How does it work?"

"It acts as a fold-out system." Siddiq explained. "Take your shirt off. It needs to be applied to bare skin." As he finished talking, he threw the box for Adrien to catch. It was surprisingly light.

Adrien was used to having to change in front people due to his modelling. Being thrown a shirt to put on for a pose wasn't a big deal to him, so he did so rather quickly, awaiting further instruction from Siddiq.

"You see that button on the side of the box." Siddiq pointed, to an alternating green light, that went on and off every three seconds. "Press the box against your stomach and press that button."

Adrien did as instructed. Almost instantly, he was enveloped in a black cloth-like material around his stomach, chest, and waist. It was a black colour, dark as space, and, though he felt it pressed against his skin, it wasn't uncomfortable. "Whoa!"

"Puffs of smoke and that sort of drawback to a Trait tend to come from the torso. This device is something I call a Repressor. It detects the activation of a Trait, and suppresses any visual effect from Torso based effects. It's highly durable, can take hits, and even if ripped, it will still work. Easily repairable - Just use cotton. The materials used in it are applicable with basically any other material." Siddiq sat back in his seat and let out a loud sigh. "Give it a try."

After a nod, Adrien activated his Trait. Reappearing just an inch to the side, there was no smoke. No visual feedback of his power. Nothing. To an outside perspective, Adrien had rapidly phased out into nothing, and reappeared in his new location.

Adrien smirked. "Awesome!"

"Does that suit your needs?"

"Absolutely!" Adrien grinned. "How much?"

"Two-Hundred."

"Done." Adrien nodded, reaching into his wallet that was in his discarded jacket, and produced two-hundred Euros, placing them on the Designers table. The money wasn't an issue for a rich child like him. He'd make _that_ little cash back in a week or so. "I uh... Wasn't kidding when I said my father can't know about it."

"Not an issue. My Trait will... Keep me guessing as to where that went." Siddiq informed the blond model, pointing to a text sign on his wall. Above that sign was a notice saying 'Why I don't remember you'. Reading it quickly, Adrien understood.

Siddiq Taslaq - Trait - Amnesia - Siddiq is able to forget certain events of his choosing. He can only use this Trait to forget his own memories, and not the memories of anyone else's. He is aware of when he has activated his Trait, but not what he used it to erase. This Trait had kept him as one of the few Designers who can claim absolute anonymity is possible with their services.

* * *

Sat in her room, Marinette looked at the clothes she had been unable to burn.

Why? Why hadn't she been unable to be rid of them? They were clothes. The clothes were Ladybug, not her. Why did she bother keeping them?

Part of her deep down, knew why.

That fond look Adrien had given her was a factor, of course it was... but it was that feeling of belonging. Acceptance, and pride in what she had done. She had done something good, and protected people. Wasn't that what being a Hero was all about? And it felt... Good. Was that just a further nudge to convince her that her destiny lied behind that mask? That her true calling lied as a Hero? That this... Was something she had to do?

She looked at the yo-yo, part of the equipment she used when she was Ladybug. Made of plastic and string, there wasn't really a lot that it could be used for to aid her Trait.

Or was there?

It would be relatively easy to add little bits of materials to the yo-yo-, to help her create new objects with it...

She spent a long time that night editing the yo-yo, coming up with new ideas and concepts for the piece of equipment.

* * *

It was far easier, Adrien found, to come up with an idea for a suit rather than create one.

He had a rough idea of what he wanted as his costume, but he lacked the designer talent to actually create one. He was conflicted between the desire to have that intimidating Heroic look, and the need to keep who he was a secret. He had learned a few tricks from his father's work when he was a child, so he had a few ideas.

The first part he needed to work on was the mask. That was a given. A mask that attached to his face, leaving two holes for his eyes and not limiting his peripheral vision. He needed this to hide his face, so no one would know it was him.

He also needed long-sleeve gauntlet-type thing. The fact his hands and arms, up to his shoulders, turned dark black, and his veins were charcoal, would give him away in an instant. That needed to be hidden. Though he lacked the Designers eye and knowledge, he knew that leather was a material that his Trait seemed to simply phase through if he put enough force behind it. A leather jacket would do.

Next, cat ears. These would serve absolutely no practical purpose. The logic the Dual Trait user was using was that these cat ears would help distinguish him, further helping his who he was behind the mask. People would, with luck, assume he had a mutation that gave him cat-like ears. It was this same logic that made him decide to add a tail to his outfit.

And for naught but cosmetic reasons, a bell to go atop the zipper of his jacket. Why the hell not?

Looking at himself in the mirror, it was fairly obvious that he had made the outfit himself, and he was an armature...

But he liked it.

He couldn't help but smirk. He already had a name.

"Hello, Chat Noir." He said, with a nod.

* * *

She had to be insane to do this sort of thing.

Ladybug never expected to be out on the rooftops of Paris... Well, ever again. She was being fuelled on by a sense of need. She needed to know if this was what she had to do, of if she had been living a sort of memory-blessed version of events in her head. Did it all look better in her head? Or was doing this really something that she wanted to do?

Inside the yo-yo that she had picked up, were now small amounts of various materials that she had gathered from her home. Things like steel, rock, wood, and the likes, and she had reinforced her yo-yo's string with something a lot stronger. Her Trait had removed it altogether, and made a thin, flexible, malleable, yet sturdy wire. With her Trait, she could use it infinitely if she desired. Setting up a retraction reel had been easy, and when activated, it would pull the yo-yo, now capable of supporting her body weight, along with it. Testing out that system had been terrifying to start, but now she knew it worked, it was becoming exhilarating.

Speeding into the sky on a high- retraction reel, detaching the grappled object in mid-air, and using that momentum to fly high into the sky sent a rush to Ladybug's stomach and head, and adrenaline shot through her body like a 50. Calibre bullet. She couldn't help but laugh after a few swings, before landing on top of a hotel building at how incredible that had been.

Not really taking it into account as Marinette, but Ladybug noticed, there was so much that you could see when on top of a rooftop above a street. You could see your entire city, the various people, what they were doing, and a great many happenings. She could see the citizens of Paris going about their regular lives. She saw some Heroes on the street level doing their jobs. She could see... Everything from this heightened point.

She was on top of the freaking _world_!

Looking down at the people down there, she had to wonder...

Now what the heck was she supposed to do?

She hadn't exactly thought this all the way through, had she? To be a vigilante... That sort of required a crime to fight, didn't it? And the Heroes tended to do that sort of thing pretty efficiently, or, well, more efficiently than she was currently doing, that was certain. She'd have to hunt out crime to actually get into a position where she had to use her powers... And that wasn't particularly something she wanted to do. She wasn't too keen on the idea of going out and putting herself deliberately in danger on her own.

"Great." She muttered. "I guess I could just... Look around?" Patrol? Was that the word? Did it really matter? Would she even find anything? She wasn't used to this sort of thing at all... It was a confusing world she had entered, and part of her wasn't even sure why she'd entered it.

As she sighed, and prepared to jump off the building to look around the town, her eye was caught by a swirl of rising fire, piercing the darkness of the city, and reaching high into the sky. it was a sudden rising, like a hurricane suddenly shooting up in front of The Notre-Dame de Paris. A swivel of red and orange, bright, almost blindingly hot flame from the famous French landmark, that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

Suddenly, Ladybug had a location.

* * *

The attack was gone as soon as he'd arrived, with the police forces unable to do anything to prevent the attacker from getting away. He seemed to just disappear without a trace. Many speculated his had a Teleportation Trait to help him escape.

Police forces were investigating the crime scene, looking at it as an arson attack. There had been a few Heroes on duty around this area, but none of them seemed specifically targeted. What was surprising to people that, despite these Heroes having valuable Traits, none of them had been able to even see or combat the perpetrator.

"Did they even see the guy?" One officer asked his colleague. This officer was defined by his blue skin colour, and sharp joints.

"Nothing." The other officer replied. She was defined by a big, bushy tail that she possessed. Both features on the officers were parts of their Traits. "I think Meticulous said he heard a voice."

"Meticulous? The Hero?"

"Yeah, him. He said he heard some sort of laughter, and a name." The female officer looked at the attack site. Several cars had been damaged, one totally destroyed, erupting in a fiery tornado that had done little to escape the press as to the situation here. Right now, officers were too busy to deal with the media, instead keeping them back, and investigating various bits of what little evidence hadn't been burned to singes. "He said he heard the attacker call himself Sunstroke."

"Sunstroke..." The male officer said, his joints straightening up. "So, what, he has a fire-Trait?"

"Looks that way."

"Perfect." The blocky officer sighed. "Like we don't have enough trouble dealing with Pyrokinetics."

Hiding out of sight, Chat Noir had heard everything he had needed to hear.

He had spotted the spiralling pillar of fire when he was Teleporting to the location he had met Ladybug in, hoping to run into her again, when he saw the eruption of flame. Police cars already headed towards the area, the dual Trait user knew that something was going down, so he switched his targets, and attempted to eavesdrop on whatever officers happened to be nearby. A feat that, without his repressor, he wouldn't be able to dream of doing. The smoke would give him away. Now he simply faded into the night, helping him be stealthy.

So now he had a name of someone. A person called Sunstroke was behind the attacks. No doubt a code-name, but the question was, why attack this seemingly out of the way, random area? What benefit was there to it, aside from simply revealing one's self to the public? There was far more to this situation than a person just attacking officials because they could.

Having gathered what he needed, Chat Noir Teleported out of the bushes, and onto the roof of the building. From here, he could see the impact site clearly. The area that the Trait had been activated was completely and utterly charred, the ground straight up black around the impact site, expanding in a large, thick radius around it. Several cars were destroyed. The fuel inside the cars would have been exposed to the increased heat and by process, evaporated and expanded. Once a spark met the gasses and the liquid, it went up in a cyclone of flame, obliterating everything around it. Seem fairly logical.

So what sort of Trait was he working with?...

Chat considered this for the longest time, before he looked out at the city. The media had come running when they saw such a large inferno, so the police had to put up barriers and assign a few precious officers to keep the overzealous reporters at bay. Chat of all people knew all too well just how enthusiastic and pushy the newspapers and media outlets could be. Being a model, Adrien was subjected to them frequently.

As he looked on, he came to focus on something moving... Very rapidly... Towards the Notre-Dame. It took him a while to make out the figure, but when he did, he leaped off the roof and Teleported.

He'd seen Ladybug.

She was headed right towards the line of sight for a police barricade.

Weather the laws were heavily enforced or not, if they saw a vigilante headed straight towards them, the police and Heroes would take steps to apprehend them.

He reappeared behind her, grabbed her shoulder, and Teleported right back to the building he had been on.

Understandably, Ladybug freaked the hell out when she realized what had happened. Being rapidly transported like a Teleportation Trait would often surprise people who had never been moved in this way before, and it freaked Marinette the hell out to be falling through the air, to suddenly be on top of the Notre-Dame, with a total stranger grabbing her shoulder. Barely a second had passed before she threw her yo-yo right at him.

Chat dodged quickly, Teleporting to the side, his hands up and open. "Take it easy! I'm not trying to hurt you." He pointed anxiously to the blockade behind her. "The police would have seen you and tried to get you if you kept going that way. You probably couldn't see 'cause the press must be blocking the lights."

Taking her eyes off the person in front of her, Ladybug glanced back to see he was telling the truth. Large numbers of people were blocking out the majority of the light. She hadn't even seen the blockade, and was, frankly, amazed the police had managed to set one up so soon. She still didn't truth this, quite honestly, scruffily dressed person, whomever the heck they were.

Chat seemed to notice this fairly clearly also. _Not the best start to their relationship._

"Thanks." Ladybug said, almost begrudgingly, but she was, in reality, genuinely grateful. "Who are uh... I'm guessing you're not exactly a Hero if you helped me."

"Nope." Chat said with a smirk. "I saw your fight with Molecular and, well, here I am."

"...So you're a fanboy." Ladybug laughed very gently.

"I'm Chat Noir." Chat informed her, letting her joke at his expense slide. While he would have loved to talk casually to her a bit more, he assumed she would be rather busy, so he decided to cut to the chase. "I'm guessing you saw the fire display here not too long ago."

"Yeah."

"Well, I've been listening, and I know who the police think did this. I did a bit of listening around the place. Someone, a Hero, heard a person calling themselves Sunstroke. They think he's a Pyrokinetic of some sort."

Pyrokinetic Trait users were by no means uncommon, in the same way Hydrokinetic and Teleportation Traits weren't uncommon. There was usually variance on how those Traits specifically activated. For example, a Hydrokinetic like Nino would be able to manipulate all liquids that weren't from his own body, whereas another Hydrokinetic may be able to generate water of their own. The differences were no different for Teleporters, and for Pyrokinetics. Sharing elements of a Trait weren't uncommon factors in powers.

Ladybug was, for the most part, impressed that this person - Chat Noir, had managed to come up with this information in such a short amount of time. Despite that, she wasn't too sure as to what to do with that information herself. "Uh... What uh, what does that do for us?"

"Pretty simple." Chat said with a smirk. He placed his hand on her shoulder again, and before Ladybug could say a word, they found themselves on top of a building on the other side of the bridge. He had Teleported them across instantaneously. "Meet me by the Eiffel tower tomorrow, at around midnight, and I should have some news for you." He told her, and with that promise, he disappeared before her, evaporating into the night.

"Chat Noir, huh?" Ladybug questioned to herself, looking around to see if the other vigilante was there.

The vibe she got from him was by no means bad at all. In fact, it was the opposite. She felt like she knew that he was trying to do good by doing what he was doing, and she felt he was at least trustworthy, despite interacting with him for such a small amount of time.

She'd give him a chance.

And, deep down, she hoped he would be able to lead the two of them. Because she had little to no confidence in her abilities to do so.


	6. The Real World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Ladybug and Chat Noir take on their first Villain, they get a harsh taste of reality - That this isn't a game. That this is a dangerous job. That this could very easily kill them.

Being a student in the Hero course, the son of a famous Hero fashion designer, and known for Heroic feats, getting information from official sources wasn't particularly much of a challenge for Adrien. He didn't even need to haggle with any of the officers when he asked for any of the information. All he needed was a vague excuse that his father was looking into the possibility of creating defensive clothing for this particular individuals Trait, and he was given all the information that he needed. He had gone after classes had finished for the day, so he had a bit of free time to swing by the place and get home before his father became suspicious. One of the many times Adrien thanked whatever Gods may be up there for his ability to Teleport.

The prime suspect was a Villain by the name of - As Chat Noir had heard - Sunstreak. As his name suggested, he possessed a fire-based Trait, but the specifics of this ability were unknown. He was also known to be a vandal, but he only recently turned to outright violence, for reasons that were unexplained. Wherever he showed up, he used his rather powerful ability to cause high damage, and then rapidly leave, causing a series of hit and runs. His attack method had almost become a sort of trademark, and the description fitted with the signs of the attack. He was suspected as being a member of an underground Villain group, which the official officers knew little about. There really wasn't anything more that the law enforcers could offer the blond model, but it was more than enough for what Adrien needed.

A Pyrokinetic Trait user could cause a lot of problems, Adrien considered as he walked along the streets back home, looking at everyone on the pathways walking past. Pyrokinesis was a particularly destructive power, responsible for many, many injuries in the past. Fire is inherently dangerous, and when given to people who cannot take responsibility for their actions, or those who may abuse it, it can be downright fatally dangerous. Not that Adrien had a right to throw stones.

For example, Sunstreak could let off one of his deadly attacks right now, in this street, and kill everyone there within seconds. It wouldn't even be difficult for someone who could create and generate fire. It also didn't help that fire-based Traits were rather common, with a thousand variants of the ability existing. People with Pyrokinesis had a huge responsibility to take care of.

Which was why a Villain having the destructive elemental power was a huge cause of concern for the Agreste child.

It was a good thing he had chosen when he had chosen to become Chat Noir.

Unable to help himself, he chuckled lightly, and smirked to himself. He knew thinking like a Hero was something he was used to doing. He'd been doing it for years. It was firmly in his mind-set, and he knew exactly what it was that a Hero could think in any given situation. But now he was Chat Noir. He was a vigilante, and he was doing the same thing a Hero would do. He found it amusing that he was already in that state of mind, despite only being a student, not even starting on the Hero course teachings. His experience was basically null, and yet, here he was.

It gave him a sense of eagerness. Giddiness. Excitement you could call it, as he wondered what he would do, what he and Ladybug fought against these people causing this destruction and all this violence. What they could do to do their part to curb stomp Villainy that existed within their beloved city.

As he thought that, he wondered if Ladybug would show up tonight. He hoped so, very much. The more he thought about it, their original meeting hadn't exactly been what he could have called the most... Introductory, he supposed the correct term was. They hadn't really spoken to each other much, nor had they even really discussed much of anything outside of the current situation, not to mention their meeting was brief. He hoped to at least get a better idea about her from this meeting.

After all, he owed her his life, by all accounts. Had she not leaped to his rescue when he fought against the female Villain Molecular, he could have very easily ended up dead. He was a hard person to kill, so the fact he had come close left no doubt that it was because of Ladybug he was still breathing. And not to mention, she had inspired him to become Chat Noir.

He shrugged these thoughts to the side as he remembered the day's events. Today was Thursday, and the final exam for the General Studies segment of the course was on Saturday. That left him with two days to prepare for the finals. By his own estimations, he would be absolutely fine with the written segments... He knew the information well enough. It was just a lack of revision time, to double check and refresh those facts. If not, it should be a matter of mere logic to figure out the questions given to him.

If not, he could always ask Marinette to give him a few pointers. She was smart.

* * *

Marinette felt like an absolute idiot.

One thing she certainly hadn't taken into account of being a Vigilante, would be that she was have a lot less sleep than she was used to. Indeed, that day, school had been absolute hell on Earth, as she nearly kept falling sleep, over and over and over again. She had been luck that Alya kept waking her up when she was about to pass out, otherwise she could have gotten into some serious trouble with the teachers there.

It didn't help that Alya seemed to be absolutely gushing about Ladybug right now. She had taken a liking to the Vigilante, and what little news had been covered on her. It was a rather controversial opinion to hold, particularly for a Heroics student, but no one particularly questioned it, just letting the Broadcast trait user do her own thing.

Everything seemed to be going wrong right now, and Marinette was really starting to regret her choice to be a Vigilante. She didn't feel like she could handle this sort of task, nor did she feel like she had the capability to do so. With Alya being so close, it would be incredibly easy for her to let something slip, Alya to learn that it was her underneath that red and black mask, and completely reveal her identity.

Avoiding that would be preferable.

Now laying face-down on her bed, Marinette remembered her meeting with Chat Noir at around midnight. She intended to go, of course. While she knew very little about the Vigilante, she felt he was a trustworthy source. And he seemed to be far more capable than she was. Even after having such a limited amount of interaction with him, he had still shown that he was capable to acquiring information in such a short amount of time, something Marinette was still unaware as to how he managed.

It was thinking about this that made her wonder, what the hell sort of world had she just entered?

The world of Heroes and Villains wasn't a peaceful one. Traits were deadly weapons, and violence was a heavily running theme. Marinette wanted to be a Hero to make the most out of her own ability, but she lacked the fighting abilities, she felt, that would be needed.

Why had she become a student for the Hero course in the first place?

Oh yeah. Adrien. She blushed and sighed.

Oh boy... What would he think if he found out she was Ladybug? She didn't know how he felt about Vigilantes... But given the personality he had, and the Heroic mind he had, she couldn't help but think it wouldn't be a positive opinion of them. He had made clear his belief that combatting Villains was something Heroes and the Police should be doing, not untrained idiots who thought they were tough stuff.

Oh, how little that did to reassure her mind.

Oh, what the hell was she doing?

She rolled over onto her back and looked up at her ceiling with a frustrated sigh. Was she really up for this sort of life? Was she really the sort of person that could become a Hero? Was her Trait honestly worth a damn? Alya's Trait could be weaponized into something destructive and amazing, Nino's Trait could become brutal with careful training and precision, and Adrien possessed two incredibly well connected and amazing Traits.

Compared to theirs, Marinette's Trait seemed bland, and essentially useless. Her Trait wasn't combat orientated at all. She was good for making materials when someone was out of cotton. Not particularly much else...

And she chose to become a Vigilante?

What had she been thinking?

"I hope Chat Noir has a better idea of how to be a Hero than I do..." She muttered to herself, before she closed her eyes. It was 6PM. She needed to get some sleep if she was going to be up and around by midnight.

* * *

One thing that Adrien - Or now, Chat Noir - Had never grown tired of, despite having been up here, and many of those times, at night too, was the sight that you would get when atop the Eiffel tower. Living near the Paris landmark, Adrien knew the surrounding area perfectly well. He had seen it all too often. Practically his whole life. He knew it all perfectly, and could practically draw a map of the area from memory alone.

And yet, it was never a sight he grew tired of. It was his home town. The place he grew up. And despite the violence that occurred in the area, thanks to Villains and Heroes fighting it out all the time, he wouldn't trade it for the world. He really wouldn't. He loved living in this city. That was another part of why he wanted to be a Hero, to help defend the place he grew up. The most beautiful place in all of Europe, he would go as far to say. He'd lay down his life to keep it safe.

He glanced at the palms of his makeshift costume, wondering if he had the strength to be a good Hero, to be a good Vigilante that could solve the issues that the city very clearly had. Violence. Villains. Back alley deals. Corruption… All sorts of things that needed to be solved, and the Heroes right now were so busy with dealing with it all, some crimes went unnoticed… But would he be enough to help make a difference?

It was wondering about this that he came to a conclusion. To figure out if he did, he'd take down Sunstreak. Or, he'd get turned into a pile of ashes. Either way, he'd learn if he had what it took.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the very red-and-black polka-dot jumpsuit wearing girl landing right next to him. He noticed her legs were a bit shaky, but she was stood tall, her hands on her hips.

"You came." Chat Noir said, honestly rather surprised that she had shown up. He had already been preparing himself for the rejection of his help she would give him, but here she was.

"Surprised?" She asked in a friendly, joking tone. It was all a farce to keep up this image of self-confidence, to make Chat think she wasn't some sort of total fraud, even if that was what she was.

"Yeah, actually, I am. I didn't think you'd show up." Chat confessed, with a genuine smile. "I don't think I properly introduced myself, did I? I'm Chat Noir. A pleasure." He added a small bow, feigning sophistication.

"Ladybug." The girl said, but she didn't bother with the bow. "So... You're a Teleporter?" She asked, referring to his Trait that she had seen the previous night.

"Not exactly." Chat had rehearsed this multiple times. "My Trait is De-Materialisation. I can de-construct things at an atomic level, but I can't put them back together. The only exception is myself, and anything I'm touching at that time. That's how I Teleported you - It's more an added bonus that I can use my Trait as a Teleporter."

Ladybug bought it, and nodded. "I get it. Interesting. You've seen mine. I can create things."

"I know. Your Trait looks amazing. Better than mine."

"You sound like a boy I know." Ladybug said with a soft smile, remembering Adrien's face. She wondered, was this a common thing with people who could use Teleportation powers? The longing for a power stronger, more powerful than their own? "I always wanted to be able to Teleport. Don't short-sell yourself."

Smiling at her, Chat went a tad red. "Since the uh, introductions are out of the way, we should, uh, talk about the Pyrokinetic."

Nodding, Ladybug agreed.

"The police think it's a Villain who calls himself Sunstreak. The attack was totally random, aside from a few officers who were already there. He's an arson, and they think he'd part of a group that's underground, figuratively speaking, in the underworld."

"So we don't know where he is..." Ladybug sighed. This whole testing to see if she had what it took to be a Vigilante didn't seem to be working out.

"Not exactly." Chat said with a grin.

"Huh?"

"I may have gotten some information regarding a location." Chat said with a smirk. "Source of mine says a gathering of officers is at risk thanks to Sunstreak. Later tonight, a bunch of officers are going to be out late, scanning for him. Chances are, he's gonna attack them, since they seemed to be his target from the start."

"...How are you even getting this information?"

"Like I said, sources." Chat said with a toothy grin, showing off his perfectly white teeth. The source was his father, and that was information he had acquired from his computer. Being a fashion designer, Gabriel was in contact with thousands of people in the city, creating their outfits to fit their requests. The chief of police of Paris was requesting some fire-retardant outfits for the search. It was apparently a joint effort with the police and the Heroes.

That gave Adrien a vague idea where Sunstreak might show up.

"Since the group should be leaving right about now, the Villain must be nearby, waiting for a chance to attack. The police station is due west here..." Chat pointed out, towards the endless sea of darkness and lights flickering on and off. "And if he wants to keep an eye on his targets, and wait for a chance to attack..." As Chat Noir spoke, a rooftop in the far distance glowed briefly, like a person had set a candle off, and then snuffed out the flame immediately afterwards. "...Right on time."

Ladybug was impressed. "That was... Impressive."

"It's a gift." Chat nodded with a smirk. "Ready?"

"Ready?" Ladybug asked, with a raised eyebrow. "For what?"

"To save Paris, of course."

* * *

Dropping the satellite cable he had just destroyed, Sunstreak sighed. It had gotten in his way, so he just got rid of it. That was what he did with things that were an obstacle. He destroyed them.

These officers were not an obstacle. At all.

It wasn't really something Sunstreak even agreed with doing, attacking police officers. He felt it a waste of time, of both his organisation, and his own. There was no benefit to it. And even less so was announcing who he was.

Did Hawkmoth want people to know they existed? If so, why in the hell did he want that? That would make their lives far more difficult, surely? What benefit was there to loudly announcing to the world that they existed?

But then again, Sunstreak did like setting things on fire. As long as he got to do that, he supposed he couldn't complain.

He picked up a nearby loose pebble that had made its way onto the roof of this building somehow, and glared at the officers, patrolling. He observed their equipment and the quality of it. Fire proof. It wouldn't make a difference. Not with his Trait.

"Hold it!"

The Villain froze. Had he already been found out? He turned around quickly, his palms open and primed, ready to send his targets up in flames.

That was, until he saw that it was two children.

Chat had Teleported himself and Ladybug to the location of the rapid brightening, suspecting to find Sunstreak there, and sure enough, here he was. Sunstreak was a man in his mid to late twenties, and his appearance was as close to fire as you could get without literally being in fire. He was covered in burn marks, and his hair was bright red, spiky, and on end, like someone had hit a fuse in his hairdo. He had a stubble of a red beard also, poorly shaven. Burn marks aplenty on his face also scattered his facial features, including two around each of his eyes, completely surrounding the sight-giving organs.

The costume he wore was designed around amplifying his powers. Red gloves that reached up to his elbows, intended to increase the spread of the fire from his palms as quickly as possible. His chest was exposed, revealing him to be very muscular. Around his stomach was a metal casting, akin to that of a ladder, red. Around his also crimson, burned eye sockets, was a slim mask, covering his face so lightly, but not perfectly. Around his waist, separate from his casting, was a belt, filled with gasoline and flammable liquids, of which he made practical usage from. His boots were fire retardant, designed to allow the user to dash through fire unhindered.

The well-equipped Villain stared at the two children in front of him. There wasn't much to think. "Is this some sort of joke?" He held up the pebble in his hand. "Children? The Heroes are hiring children now?"

"We aren't Heroes." Chat said, with a smile on his face. Ladybug stood next to him with a look that couldn't decide what the hell it was. How Chat was able to face this sort of person and still be grinning throughout it was amazing. Didn't he feel the least bit intimidated? She certainly did.

"You're new to this business then." Sunstreak observed, before chuckling. "Let me guess - You're fresh faced Vigilantes who wanna see of they've got what it takes to be the best Heroes ever, right?"

"Basically."

"Oh boy, is this gonna be fun." Sunstreak smirked sadistically. It was clear he had dealt with people like Chat Noir and Ladybug before. "So you know who I am, obviously. I'm Sunstreak. I'm a Villain. I kill for a living. And I don't work independently. You're fresh. Raw meat as I like to call you." As he spoke, suddenly, the pebble he held erupted into flames in his hands, combusting into an open flame. The light glistened in Sunstreak's eyes, akin to a true pyro. "Tell you what, freshies, get out of here, and I'll let you go. I don't particularly like roasting kids, but end of the day, that's what keeps me fed." He licked his lips as he said so. He liked his freshies medium rare. He glanced between Chat Noir and Ladybug as he considered what heat he should set them to.

Sunstreak - Trait - Combustion - This Trait allows the user to set any object they happen to be touching with their palms into an open flame, regardless of how flammable the object is. While immune to the initial effects of his inferno, Sunstreak is not immune to fire altogether. However, his palms are totally fireproof.

"Back off?" Chat asked, with a smirk. "That's not what a Hero would do!" With this declaration, he Teleported behind the Villain, and launched a roundhouse kick to the back of the head, catching the Pyrokinetic off-guard.

Staggering, Sunstreak turned, his hands now fully ablaze, and began to swing at Chat Noir, aiming to grab at least a part of his body to send up in a vortex of fire. While he wasn't the strongest in close quarters against quick opponents, Sunstreak was an adept hand-to-hand combatant. All he needed to do was grab the opponent, and send them into a combustion of ash. He only needed to get hold of them for a few seconds. One good grip.

Unfortunately for him, Chat Noir was very quick. Using his ability to Teleport made him virtually impossible to grasp. Whenever he would get close to grabbing a limb, it would disappear, dissolving into the air, and suddenly it would be smacking him in the back of the head. If not for his head-guard, which defended him from such attacks, he would have been knocked unconscious within a few strikes.

"Hyaaaa!" Chat grunted as he smacked his shin into Sunstreak's cheek, before Teleporting to the other side, and throwing a solid reverse punch to equal out the damage on either side. He possessed antiquate combat knowledge, obviously, very capable a fighter, and putting the knowledge that he had to good use.

"Rrrgh!" The Pyrokinetic launched an open palm strike at Chat Noir, his palms engulfed in the flame of his Trait. He narrowly missed grabbing Chat's wrist, only for the Vigilante to snap it away, and smack him in the chin with it

While the fight between the two of them raged on, Ladybug just watched. She didn't know what to do. Whereas Chat was grinning during the fight, full of confidence and bravado, Ladybug was the opposite.

She was absolutely terrified.

It wasn't like fighting Molecular. That had been pure adrenaline, heat-of-the-moment action, this had been pre-meditated. She hadn't been thrown into this, and forced to act to save someone. This was a choice she had made. A choice she regretted.

This was actual combat. Do or die, fight or flight, give it your all, or give it all up.

She was beyond terrified.

Palms covered in the devouring element, Sunstreak made several more swings at Chat Noir, narrowly missing several. He clearly became angrier as he threw each of his open-palmed strikes, looking to grapple the Vigilante currently landing easy blows on him. "Stop freakin'..." A random throw, and Sunstreak managed to catch Chat by the collar. A smug grin made its way onto the Pyrokinetic, and he unleashed the fullest of his powers, slamming the teenager into the ground, and releasing a huge blazing pyre, that rose into the sky. Following that, he then tossed Chat off the roof, letting loose one more fiery explosion, just for good measure. "Squirming!"

Muscles and instinct yelled at Ladybug to move. To escape. To get out of here. But her legs wouldn't move. They refused to move. She was stuck, rigid and firmly. She wasn't even shaking. That was how much her legs were disobeying her.

Sunstreak seemed to be pleased with his work, as he admired Chat's falling body for just a few seconds, before he tilted his head to face Ladybug, his smug grin still plastered on. "Well? You gonna make a move?"

Ladybug shivered. She wanted to move. Oh, how she wanted to... But it just wasn't happening. She was freaking horrified. Scared didn't do it justice. This was utter petrification.

"Not going to?" The Pyrokinetic questioned, turning his body to face the girl, his hands still rippling with fire. "No? Or... Is it that you can't?" He glared. "Don't worry, I'm not using a Trait here. No back up. No one's gonna sneak up behind you. The only person who is stopping you from running away, is you."

It was true, and she knew this. There was no Trait in effect here... This was just fear that was stopping her from moving.

"Of course." Sunstreak smirked. "I've seen this a fair few times. You think you're hot shit with your Traits, so you tried being a Vigilante." It wasn't exactly a wrong assessment, Ladybug conceded in her thoughts, still too unnerved to move. She would never have come out here if she didn't think her Trait would be strong enough... She'd have never come out here if she didn't think she was strong enough... This was a harsh slap to the face. Reality had come knocking, about five minutes too late for her to take the actions needed to get tout of this mess alive. "Happens every time. The rest of your team drop like flies, and then you start to cower. I say cower, you can't even manage that. You're completely rigid." Sunstreak mocked the girl there.

He reached for a vile from his equipment-belt, and produced a small vile, filled with a flammable liquid found in lighter fluid. He activated his Trait lightly, allowing the flames to dance around the vile on their own, and he took small steps closer to Ladybug, letting her get a very clear view of the fire that would soon engulf her. Despite his taunting, he was attempting to give the girl the longest period of time to escape. Should she fail that, he would just roast her. "You know what happens to kids who think they're the hot shit?"

No response came from Ladybug.

"They get burned." Sunstreak said, now using his powers to ignite the liquid. It quickly went up in a blue flame, before merging with his usual fire-based Trait, creating a huge mixed combination of fire in his right hand. Holding the flame in his Combustion hands, he made a claw-grip. He had given her enough time. She'd made her choice. "Medium-Rare - Incinerate."

"Get the hell away from her!" It was with a certain element of shock that Ladybug and Sunstreak both heard Chat Noir's voice once again, and an even bigger shock when Chat materialized in between them, and landing a solid spinning-hook kick into the side of Sunstreak's jaw. While it was obvious the young Vigilante was still in incredible pain, it was even more evident that he simply did not care, and was reacting to the current situation on sheer adrenaline. His kick certainly wasn't missing any strength to it, despite suffering such a serious burn.

However, he clearly recognized that this was not a fight he could win in his current situation, so, grabbing hold of Ladybug, he Teleported out, trying to get as far away as possible. The strain that a passenger put on his body however, was simply too much for the young model, and he wasn't able to get any further from Sunstreak than the street below them.

The same street filled with the very police officers that had been sent out to apprehend Sunstreak. The very ones Chat and Ladybug had been set on protecting. Understandably, they were confused, as they had only seen bright flashes of fire, and then a person using their Trait to Teleport back up to the roof they had been violently thrown from, and return with a female girl in his arms. A girl they immediately recognized as the Vigilante Ladybug. Any chance of them being able to pass themselves off as Heroes was shattered, gone to the wind.

"Who the hell are they?" One officer, Cyclopean in appearance asked, his one, large eye focused squarely on Chat Noir and Ladybug. Around his neck, a ripple of electricity made its way into being, highlighting the mutated-man's electrical-in-nature Trait.

"That girl... That's Ladybug, that Vigilante!" Another officer responded, totally humane looking this time. He had not yet activated his powers, but he was sure to have a strong one. His expression was serious and pained, waiting for an order from his superiors, permission to activate his skills.

"Who's the guy?" A third officer asked. This one was wielding a MAC 50 pistol, a standard issue of firearm for the French peacekeeping forces.

"No idea."

Chat gritted his teeth, determined not to let out a sound of pain. This was bad. Ladybug wasn't moving, apparently still crippled with fear, and was in no position to help him out of this situation, or to get herself out of the area without assistance. What could he do in this situation? Sunstreak was still close-by, and there didn't seem to be a reason for him to not leap down here and finish the job he started, as well as take out the squad of law-enforcers he had originally been sent to take out as well.

"We're supposed to take them in if we see them, aren't we?"

"Requesting orders, Sarge!"

"Wait, you all need to get out of here!" Chat yelled at the surrounding squad of officers, attempting a first, and last ditch effort to get the attention off of him and Ladybug, and onto the real Villain. "There's a Villain here, and he's trying to take you all out! On the roof!" He pointed weakly, to discover that, Sunstreak had dashed away, no longer even there anymore. Apparently he had chosen this time to evacuate the area, to let the police and the Vigilantes fight each other. "Damn - Damn it, you missed him!"

"Alright, apprehend them!" The Cyclopean ordered, revealing himself to be the commanding officer of the group, his entire body now cracking with electrical energy. One by one, his squad of ten began to activate their powers. Rock skin, Hidden blades, Skidmarks, Fangs, and a huge range of Traits, selected specifically for apprehending Villains, now prepped to be used against well-meaning Vigilantes.

Knowing there really wasn't a choice in the matter, Chat bit down hard, and Teleported himself and Ladybug as far as he could manage, the pain in his chest be damned. He managed a mile and a half, despite carrying a passenger and suffering an intense injury. He wound up on a rooftop near the Eiffel tower, where they had started, thankfully, far away from any of the police, none of them apparently possessing a Tracking or Teleportation Trait. Even if they did have one, without the exact co-ordinates that Chat had Teleported them to, a search would be fruitless. They were, relatively speaking, safe.

But he certainly felt the effects of overusing his powers.

"Aaaargh!" Chat let out a cried pain, clutching at his chest and falling onto his knees, and then the side of his body, writhing in agony at the circular burn above his heart. He had never felt such a pain when using his superpowers, and he was totally unprepared for the feeling, that he equated to that of being stabbed. Combined with the pull it normally gave him when Teleporting a passenger, he wasn't far away from going into relapses. "Rrrrgh, holy crap!.."

"Ch-Chat!" Ladybug managed to move herself, finally, after seeing the incredible pain the Vigilante was in before her. Quickly rolling him onto his back, she tried to do what she could to treat the wound. The flesh was burned, cooked, clear and graphic. As Ladybug did what little she could, she swallowed a lump in her throat.

This wasn't a game.

This was real life.

This was the world Heroes and Villains live in.

And it was brutal.

* * *

Sunstreak's mission had been a total failure. His plan had been interrupted by those two Vigilante's, so he had been forced to retreat. While he could have probably done more damage elsewhere, he did not want to run the risk of interfering with Hawkmoth's plans. He had no idea what the master Villain had planned throughout the city. He didn't want to end up levelling a building Hawkmoth would need a month down the line. He couldn't attack the police officers, as he now didn't have the element of surprise. They were on guard, battle ready. Ten against one, Sunstreak knew without his initial attack, he wouldn't have a chance.

So, he had to report his failure to his commander.

It was a definite fact, Sunstreak knew, that Hawkmoth would be flanked on either side by the two subordinates he considered to be trustworthy. Namely, Fragman and Wipe-Out, whom he was giving a large role in their upcoming attack. Sunstreak disliked Fragman immensely, and Fragman returned the sentiment in kind. As far as Sunstreak was concerned, Fragman ran his mouth way too often, and Fragman saw Sunstreak as an inferior version of himself, due to his Trait. How much Sunstreak would love to run a huge burn right up the chest of the arrogant teenager….

Finding himself in a mostly empty room, large in its design, but very basic, Sunstreak faced his boss. The room they were stood in had very little light, only filtered in by a small window higher on the walls, tinted blue, thanks to the stain-glass windows and the one-way looking materials used. The wood was rotten in some places, but no one seemed to care. Hawkmoth sat at his desk, facing outside the window, whereas Fragman and Wipe-Out stood either side of him, watching as Sunstreak entered the room. The Combustion Trait User had to ignore the smug look Fragman gave him.

He cleared his throat, and spoke firmly. "Hawkmoth, sir... The mission you assigned me ended in failure."

"Shocking." Fragman said, sarcasm thick throughout his voice. A cackle could be heard once he finished his sentence, indicating his amusement.

Sunstreak ignored him. No one else acknowledged the comment that young Villain made. Hawkmoth arose from his seat, and calmly walked around his desk, coming face-to-face with the failure. The way Hawkmoth was calm added intimidation to every move he ever made. He never showed anger. Reading him was an impossibility. All that could be understood was the fact that Hawkmoth gave this mission to Sunstreak because he had been confident that his subordinate could accomplish it. He had proven him wrong. And not in the good way. At all. "This is certainly an unexpected occurrence, Sunstreak. What happened?"

"I was attacked. Two Vigilante's got the drop on me, and I lost to element of surprise."

"Hold up, mate." Wipe-Out said, his English accent thick within his voice. "Vigilantes? As in, not the official Heroes?"

"Two teenagers calling themselves Ladybug and Chat Noir. They caught me unaware."

"You're telling me you got taken out by a bunch of frickin' kids?! I'd've blown 'em to bits!" Fragman chuckled, letting out a small, contained set of explosions within the palms of his hands, creating a quick flash of light around the room, drawing all attention to himself.

Fragman - Trait - Powderkeg - Fragman's body releases Nitroglycerin, which he can ignite at will throughout his body to cause damage to his opponents. With focus, he can penetrate concrete with this power, or use it to boost his speed or melee attacks. Due to the battle minded personality that he possessed, Powderkeg is a very versatile Trait, with no major disadvantages. He does not suffer any particular drawbacks when using this Trait. However, overuse will drain him of his reserves, leaving him unable to create any explosions for a short period of time.

Fragman simply grinned. "A bunch of inexperienced Vigilantes beat you. That's freakin' hilarious, Sunstreak. I thought you came to us in the first place to get some revenge? You expect to be able to do that when you can't even take down a freakin' teenager?" Hypocritical as it was, Fragman was far stronger than any regular teenager. He was a prodigy when it came to Traits, his power highly dangerous, and his skill unparalleled, his arrogance was well based. You couldn't compare him to the average teenager. It'd most likely get you killed.

"Enough." Hawkmoth stated firmly, silencing his subordinates with a single word and gesture of his hand. "This is an unexpected development. But this could be twisted to our advantage."

"How so, sir?" Sunstreak questioned.

"The damage must still be done. It is an essential step in our plan that our name, our organisation, become known." Hawkmoth said, sitting down. "Because Sunstreak, you failed in this mission, you shall be the one to attempt this task, to make up for your failing."

"Of course, sir!"

"I want these Vigilantes taken out. I want them dead, and I want it done publicly. I want the city to know, we were the ones who took out these pests. I want them to fear us." Hawkmoth reached into a draw in his desk, and flicked a vile to Sunstreak carelessly. "That vile contains a heavily concentrated flammable compound. It's called Petrolia Olenous. It's something a Hero called Fuel Tank secretes - Highly explosive. I was able to acquire it through legal means... Use it to boost your powers."

Hawkmoth then turned around in his chair, allowing his henchman to do the task he had been assigned. He heard the receding footsteps of Sunstreak, and then turned to his guards once he was certain the Pyrokinetic was gone. "Wipe-Out, how likely do you think it is that he can accomplish this task?"

"Based on what we know about him, he should be able to handle this task without cause for concern." Wipe-Out said, reciting his knowledge of his co-worker. "Issue with that statement, is that we don't know a bloody thing about these Vigilantes, other than they're apparently a hell of a lot faster than the actual frickin' Heroes."

"So you are uncertain."

"That would sum it up, sir."

"Sure you don't want me to tag along?" Fragman asked, setting off another series of explosions up and along his arms. Had he not been wearing a highly durable black T-shirt, his clothes would have most likely been torn apart. "I'm itching to get into a fight. Just gimme the word, Hawkmoth, and I'll turn those Heroes and Vigilantes into a pink mist!"

"No." Hawkmoth calmly told the explosive Trait user. "You are valuable, and talented. Your Trait is incredibly powerful, and key to the current plan. You must be ready for the upcoming battles. You are a valuable asset, Fragman. It's not my desire for you to get yourself arrested or killed in a stupid fight against children."

Fragman growled in frustration, and let yet another series of explosions loose around his palms, but he begrudgingly complied. "I hope the plans date comes around soon... I wanna let loose a little."

"Out of curiosity, I wonder, what are your reasons for wanting to take part in the invasion?" Wipe-Out asked, referring to their up and coming soon planned attack on a certain infrastructure.

"My brother, mostly." The Powderkeg Trait user said. He spoke with bitterness in his voice. A particular dislike for his sibling was present in the words he used, as well as how he used them. Venomous, without even a tangible bit of love for his blood-relative. "Little bastard needs to learn the flaws with this Hero society."

Wipe-Out sighed. "Freakin' foreigners."

Hawkmoth ignored all of this, and continued reading through the portfolios of the various students he had gathered information upon for the upcoming attack. He read their names, grades, Traits and various other bits of information he had acquired. Names of students from all over the world, all attending this famous school. The list of Traits alone was simply staggering. Anger Empowerment, Steel Wings, Brain'n'Brawn, Audiokinesis, and Magma Skin to name but a few. The school prided itself on a huge variety of Traits, all wielded by what they called capable students. A broken clock was right twice a day, the Villain supposed. A few standouts caught Hawkmoth's eyes, and he made note of their faces, their Traits, and their names.

Nuri Komo, Paint. Ersten Schwarz, Aciukinesis. Hoshi Chibaku, Star Energy. Nino Lahiffe, Hydrokinesis. Shinuya Tasuka, Trait Absorption. Marinette-Dupain-Cheng, Atomic Duplication.

Adrien Agreste, Destruction and Teleportation.

Hawkmoth scoffed, and closed the files.


	7. Here To Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As both the Vigilantes reflect on their debut, Marinette wonders if she can really do this, while Adrien takes Sunstreak on in a rematch.

Adrien was certainly having a far harder time with his studying than he normally would have. He knew all the answers, he could do all the theory and rhetoric regarding the daily questions that were thrown at him on a regular basis. Years of private tutelage had left him with an intellect that wasn’t anything to snuff at, so to suggest that these questions were difficult was almost an insult. The day itself wasn't anything special either, just the regular challenges he faced on a regular basis, the worst that would be thrown at him would be a textbook on the Great Trait war and the Human – Primal war.

The abnormal thing about today was the burn marks on his chest, now covered up with a charcoal black vest, a black T-shirt, and his normal white jacket. While three layers of clothing did little to help him keep cool, it hid the circular-spiral burned flesh from around his heart, so no one would notice such a brutal injury and question him of it. He couldn't go to his father and explain the wreckage done to his skin, as his father would no doubt use it as an excuse to pull Adrien from the school, nor could he go to the school nurse for treatment, as they would inevitably tell his father of the marks. The laws be damned, Gabriel Agreste certainly would not allow his son to go to a school where this could be the end result, and even though Adrien knew that wasn’t the reason, having to explain to his father that he was the newest Vigilante roaming the streets of Paris was a sure fire way to God knew what sort of retribution. He would have to go to a hospital later on, when he had some spare time.

He had staggered home the previous night and collapsed in his bed, and stagger really was the right word. Teleporting was painful – Extremely painful, and he couldn’t manage more than a few meters without collapsing. He’d basically moved like a baby first learning how to walk on his way back home, but not before he had questioned what the hell had been wrong with Ladybug.

That had not been the Ladybug he remembered. That had not been the person who had saved him, the person who defeated Molecular in an instant, the strong female Vigilante that Adrien had wanted to meet. She had sprung into action against a Villain like Molecular, but done nothing against Sunstreak. She'd just stood there, paralysed with what could only assume to be fear, and Chat Noir, whom had never done this Vigilante work before, had done all the fighting. Surely that should be the other way around?

Sighing, Adrien scribbled out the answer he had written in the answer box, after realising he had done a silly miscalculation. Perhaps Ladybug wasn't the person he thought she was. Perhaps she was what he had assumed Vigilantes to be all along. Headstrong, reckless idiots, only this one having a slightly higher success rate. But that left Chat Noir as an established Vigilante, and he wasn't even close to being done with that sort of life. Tucked underneath all the books in his bag, and under a black blanket cover at the bottom of the rucksack, were the clothes he needed to become Chat Noir. He had begun this adventure of his, and he wanted to keep going with it. Despite the pain his chest was enduring, he felt he had to try this, at least once more. If he failed... It would just be conclusive proof he wasn't ready to become a Hero.

Or, he’d end up in a shallow grave somewhere outside of Senlis.

"Dude, you doing okay?" The Dual Trait user's Hydrokinetic friend prodded his upper arm with a sharpened pencil, which quickly shot Adrien straight out of his trance. Normally he would be angry at such a rude awakening of his thoughts, but he didn't even have the energy to be so.

"Ah... Sorry, Nino." Adrien said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck and giving an awkward smile. "Just... Some thoughts got into my head is all."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Personal stuff man. I'd prefer not to talk about it."

"Alright, that's cool." Nino reassured his friend with a pat on the shoulder. "Just don't stress yourself out, yeah?"

"Yeah." Adrien nodded with a smile. "A-Anyway, did you need something?"

"Uh, yeah. You got any idea about Chemistry?" Nino questioned, pointing towards a basic chemical equation regarding the reactions between Magnesium and Hydrogen Peroxide.

Adrien went over the equation with Nino briefly and simply, giving his friend the information that he would need to solve the puzzle, without outright telling him the answer. Since the tests were in a few days now, Nino needed to learn how to solve these sorts of sums and questions on his own, or he faced failure.

"You'd be best checking with Marinette first." Adrien commented upon finishing. "Just to make sure."

"Why Marinette?"

"Her Trait needs her to understand the basics of this stuff. She'd probably a lot more knowledgeable in this area than I am." Said Adrien. "My Trait is more suited to destroying atoms, rather than making 'em." As he said so, he activated his Destruction power in the tips of his fingers, showing off the darkness that the power brought to his flesh.

Suddenly, he wanted to throw up.

It was a sickening sensation that Adrien was trying to get over. The feeling of physical sickness whenever he used the power. He hated using his Destruction Trait. It wasn't a side-effect of his actual Trait itself, but rather, it was a psychedelic hatred of his own superpower. He despised it, hours after its activation. It was the thing that took every single shred of happiness he had in his life before his powers came into being. He still remembered the day his Destructive power came to be... The horrors it brought with it.

He never liked using it. But he knew as well, that a Hero would need to use every tool in their arsenal when fighting Villains. He didn't have the luxury of repressing the power. That was why, whenever he fought Villains, he refused to acknowledge the disgust it brought with it.

But it still, whenever not in a fight, made him ill. He gagged suddenly, and violently, images of that day flashing back to him. The blood. The screams. The flesh, and his hands, deep and coated in a thick red goo. He retched once more, covering his mouth with his left hand, tears prickling his eyes. Sweat trickled down his face. " _Urp_!" The action involuntarily caused a tensing of his chest muscles, sending them up in a great deal of pain, which took all of Adrien's mental willpower not to cry out at.

"Adrien? What's wrong?" Their current teacher asked with concern. All eyes were now on Adrien, as his noises hadn't been quiet or at all pleasant to hear, nor had his attempts to stifle them been reserved, nor subtle.

Swallowing, and rubbing his eyes, Adrien responded with a quiet, "I'm not exactly feeling well, sir. May I be excused from classes?"

His voice was so weak, and sweat was dropping from his brow like he’d just come on in out of the rain, so the teacher nodded, allowing Adrien to go home, quickly scribbling a note of exclusion for the day, quietly hoping the model wasn't going to vomit in his classroom. He passed the note at arm's length - Quite a long distance, considering the teachers Elasticity Trait - Which Adrien took quickly and stood up, making his way quickly to exit the classroom, before he ended up passing out in the middle of the floor. As he made his way out, he caught a glance of Marinette looking at his with what looked to be genuine concern. He gave her a weak smile, before he left the room, and clutched his chest, his fingers gripping hold of the wound, like he was trying to seal it shut. He leaned against the wall, taking a second to compose himself.

"Rrgh... I need to see a pharmacist or Trait doctor or... Something... Get a painkiller or... Something to kill this pain." He muttered to himself, through gritted teeth. He got a few odd looks from students who were passing through, but he was left alone.

The first place he tried was a drug store, located not too far from the school, to no avail. They refused to sell painkillers to a minor without a credited medical professionals notice agreeing that the person in question required them. Adrien looked, or more accurately, glared at the crustacean-looking receptionist, whom gave him a shrugging gesture, before he left the store. It was pretty clear he knew Adrien was in pain, but he refused sale due to the law. In this world of Heroes, bending the law to help another was seen as a truly grand quality. This person showed no such feature. In layman terms, he was a truly bad, selfish person, concerned only with the well-keep of his business over human life. Perhaps that was unfair, perhaps he had a family he needed to keep fed and he couldn’t risk losing his only method of income, but that was the stigma people suffered in this world.

So, still in physical torment, Adrien made his way to a hospital, although the going was rough. He was suffering a strain that he couldn't even begin to describe as he staggered through the crowded Parisian streets. People either moved out of his way, or totally ignored him, not wanting to get involved. Some recognized him, and were intimidated by him, and steered clear of him. What Adrien really wanted was some -

"Hey, buddy, you need a hand?"

Before him stood a medium-body typed, similar to Adrien's build, male, with a look of concern. He possessed a dark, maroon colour of hair, with a black highlight, swayed to the right, as his hair went across his forehead. His hair was long, reaching his shoulders, and partly covering his left eye, which was also a bright red. He was roughly Adrien's height, and shared his skin tone. Wearing a crop top, he showed off some impressive muscular prowess, more than one would expect from a build such as his. His nails were bit, and uneven, his skin ripped slightly atop his fingers, probably from excessive biting at his tips, a sign of a sort of anxiety that he may suffer from.

"No..." Adrien declined, though he really wanted to accept the offer. He didn't want to cause any issues for this person. "I'm okay... Thanks for aski - " He wasn't able to complete his sentence, before he took a step forward and nearly fell down flat on his face. If not for the quick motion of the red haired boy in front of him, whom quickly ducked and caught Adrien, and put his arm around his neck and helped him stand again, he would have collapsed, right there, in the street.

"Woah there!" The boy said, propping Adrien up." The hell you're alright. Hospital, yeah?" He allowed the blond model to use him as support, and limped alongside him, as the boy took all Adrien's weight.

"Thanks..."

"Don't mention it." The boy smiled. He didn't seem to have any problems with supporting Adrien's weight, even seeming to enjoy the extra weight to add to the strain of his own walk. After a few steps, he questioned, "What's your name?"

"Adrien Agrest..."

"What, the model? You're that model with the Dual Trait? At the CFD?"

"Yep... Nice to meet you..." Adrien paused, realising he didn't know the name of this altruist.

"Tasuka." The boy introduced himself, pronouncing a foreign name, East Asian in origin. "Tasuka Shinuya."

"Japanese?" Adrien hadn't recognized the syllables. They weren't Chinese, he knew, due to his fluency in the language, but he knew the language of the red-haired helper was east-Asian, if nothing else. Japanese was his first guess. His second would have been Korean.

"Yep." Confirmed the Japanese teenager, glancing both ways before crossing a street, trying to pick up the pace before any cars or motor vehicles came their way. "Call me Shinuya. Your country, your customs - I insist."

He was referring to the Japanese naming system worked, with last names being pronounced first, as a way of showing respect. Because of the flip way that they were, in Japan, this boy would be commonly referred to as Tasuka, but in the west, he would be known as Shinuya. In truth, Adrien wouldn't have minded either way, but he nodded, too out of it to really argue. "If you're sure..."

"Okay, hospital, hospital..." Shinuya muttered, glancing around, trying to remember his way to the large building. Planning a route, he spoke again, attempting to distract the injured student from passing out. "How'd this even happen, anyway?"

"A fight..." Adrien half told the truth, still lucid enough to be aware what Shinuya was asking of him. He remained as vague as he possibly could, not wanting to give too much away. Were he any closer to not being able to tell what he was doing, he might’ve spilled his secrets on the spot.

"You got into one hell of a fight then." He wasn't going to question it? Seriously? Adrien decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth, and just nodded.

"Yeah..."

Conversation continued between the two as they limped towards a trained professional. Due to Adrien's slow walking speed, and the distance from the hospital, they had plenty of time to talk, although Shinuya seemed to be the one leading the conversation. It turned out the red-haired, black-highlighted Japanese teenager was also a student at the CFD! Adrien was amazed he hadn't seen him sooner, but that particular thought was eliminated rather quickly, once Shinuya revealed he was a student in the Elite class. Schedules for the Elite class varied throughout the week, and Shinuya's lessons had ended, not long before Adrien had stumbled across his path.

It also turned out that a lot of members of the CFD were foreign, but Adrien knew that already. Granted, he rarely saw them, due to his own engrossment and dedication to his work, but he was aware they existed. Students from all over the world attended their school. It was one of the most prestigious on the planet.

One of the most prestigious, anyway. Oxford Hero Academy and the Ultimate Hero Academy being the two that overtook the CFD in terms of pure academics.

Regardless of that, Shinuya explained to Adrien that a lot of the foreign students were spread out around the Elite and the Valour courses. Not a lot of them went for the Hero course. Some did, but many people who came from abroad to study did for one of two reasons. Option A, they possessed skill, or a Trait so high level, attending a Hero course would be meaningless, or option B, they were given an invite specifically for them, usually due to having an immensely powerful Trait. Students who fell under the option A category often chose the Valour course, whereas those under option B, they were typically sorted into the Elite course. Shinuya explained that many of their abilities were extraordinary and irregular, and they came to the CFD to learn to master their abilities to become Heroes, policemen, or soldiers, or anything else that required a good level of skill with their powers. This was different to the Hero course in that people who took that course typically had a generally good control over their powers from the get-go, and needed to learn all the general ticks about being a Hero. Elite classes were comprised of the absolute best, yet they still needed special help in training their powers. Students who left the Elite course often ended up being well known, powerful, and successful Heroes. It was due to this, that the Elite class was seen as the highest honour to be accepted into at the CFD.

Exceptions to this rule included people like Nathaniel and Lila. Neither were of French origins, and with a Trait like Nathaniel’s he had been offered a place in the Elite course, which he declined, for reasons unknown.

As Adrien and Shinuya talked, they eventually made their way to the hospital. After treatment, a handful of painkillers, and a note from the doctor to acquire more if he felt he needed it, and a reminder to take all of them, even if he felt better, over the course of a few days, Adrien came back to the reception, to find that Shinuya had left.

 _'How odd.'_ He thought to himself, before concluding that the Japanese student must have had a pressing matter to address, and making his way home. He'd have to thank him the next time he saw him, but for now, he wanted his bed. He needed a nap.

* * *

 

Thinking back on that day, Marinette felt only shame. Shame for the absolute lack of conviction she had had when she was next to Chat Noir. Shame that she'd let him actually fight, risk his life, despite her doing nothing, crippled in fear of the Villain they had hunted down. She barely even knew Chat, and already she's nearly gotten him killed. As it stood, he had a horrendous burn injury she hadn't been able to fully treat.

Using her powers, she had managed to re-duplicate the skin on his body to cover up the worst of the burn marks, but it was certainly, by no means, a permanent fix. Too much strain on a slap-dash medical procedure like that, and his new layer would tear itself apart. If the blood-loss didn’t kill him from that, the shock almost certainly would. She wasn't a medic.

At this point, the idea of calling herself a Hero... Was laughable.

Two qualities Adrien and Chat Noir shared that she recognized, despite knowing Chat for collectively, maybe an hour - They were totally Heroic. Self-sacrificially Heroic. Utterly selfless, and totally calm in the face of danger, like they'd prepared for it their entire lives. Unthinking in the face of danger, and putting little value in their own lives, in spite of them being the kinds of people who had the most value to everyone around them.  People like that were the kinds of people society wanted, that society needed, to be Heroes.

They didn't need a cowardly girl. They didn't need someone who couldn't fight. Who couldn't be brave. Who couldn't even move to save her own life - Literally.

What sort of Hero could she even be when she couldn't even save herself? What... How could she even consider herself to be a Hero, knowing she couldn't even face a Villain like that? Heroes were supposed to be altruists. Selfless. Not afraid to fight. Not at all like her.

She sighed, and fell flat on her face in her bed.

Tomorrow, she'd quit. Not just from being Ladybug, but from the Hero course as well. What reason did she even have to be there? Why would she stay in a group that she knew she could never, ever, do justice for?... Maybe if she was lucky, a Design course would take her in...

That was, if she didn't get afraid of the freaking wool drawer.

* * *

 

Another blast rippled throughout the district, fire engulfing everything it came into contact with. Civilians ran away, desperate to get to safety, while law enforcement attempted to get close to the Combustion Trait user, trying their hardest to subdue him. Little success came of this however, results more suggesting that this was a flawed tactic. Many officers wound up with horrible injuries, awful burns, and other ailments.

"It's no use Sarge!" An officer yelled, the afterglow of his Trait fading out as he jumped back from the Villain. "Our Traits aren't strong enough to deal with this guy!"

Traits weren't the problem here. The issue was that this Villain was letting loose so many fireballs that it was impossible to get near him. The ones that were able to just got burned. Water based Traits, for whatever good they were, seemed to just not work against this guy. They connected with the fire, and just exploded into steam. He was outputting such a heat that water wasn't working.

The Cyclopean sergeant gritted his teeth. "Damn it... I thought this unit was based around containing this guy..." Evidently, it just wasn't enough. They had underestimated this Villains raw power. Unless they had a death wish, they had to try a new tactic. "Pull back for now! Get ready to circle around, flanking techniques!" It was really the only option available to them. The Heroes weren't going to get here any time soon, so they just had to minimize the damage to the city before then.

Suntreak was attacking randomly, lashing out at anything that moved. The man had his orders, and he was determined not to fail his objectives a second time. He placed his hand on a wall, and a short half-second later, it erupted in a grand fire, spreading to the rest of the building in a matter of seconds.

He didn't have time to mess around. He sure as hell wasn't gonna let Fragman show him up. And above all, he had to prove that he was capable, or he'd lose his chance for revenge.

And someone needed to pay.

"Hey!"

That familiar voice alerted Sunstreak immediately to the presence of one of his targets, already here. It had been a measly twenty minutes since he had begun this random violence tactic to lire the Vigilante out. He was actually surprised that Chat was the one to respond. "So, you showed up."

"What's the point of this mayhem?" Chat Noir asked, glaring at the flames surrounding him and the crimson hair-and-eyed arson. He had Teleported into the situation, no taking into account the searing heat, but he didn't let that bother him... Even if, as he spoke, a large bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

The effects of his wound sure hadn't deteriorated. Painkillers had helped, but he was still incredibly sore around his chest area thanks to Sunstreak's attack on him. In truth, it made Chat nervous to even come near this particular Villain again, but he didn't have much of a choice.

The Heroes were still a long time away, and the police weren't able to do anything about it. So, that left the Vigilante to try and hold out for time. A thankless task if little else, but then again, so was being a Hero.

"Pretty simple reason, actually kid." Sunstreak responded, grinning at Chat Noir, planning the optimal method of attacking. "I was hoping you'd show up."

"You didn't think to just write a letter?"

"You think you're funny, don't you?"

Chat threw open his arms, indicating to the burning flames that surrounded him. He put on a grin as he made eye contact with his enemy. "What can I say? I'm on _fire_ today."

"Hilarious." Sunstreak cringed at the pun, suddenly feeling very okay with killing this kid. The rigid claw grip formed in the Villains' palm. "You're gonna be roast meat in about fifty seconds, so if you wanna make any prayers, now's a good time."

As he finished talking, Chat disappeared, quickly reappearing behind the Villain, and launching a drop kick to the back of the head. Although read for it this time, Sunstreak still lacked the response time, as Chat was far too quick with his powers. The way he moved was instantaneous, not giving even a second up. "Sorry, I'm not the religious type." Said the Vigilante, landing on his hands and feet, "But I am the type who's ready for a rematch."

"God, you're an idiot, kid." Mocked the Villain, before placing his palms firmly on the ground below them, causing the surface to erupt, fire shooting towards Chat Noir at high speeds. His understanding of his own Trait made Sunstreak a very dangerous Villain. The slightest alteration of his movements here or there, and he could create anything from a fire tornado to the simulation of the tectonic plates moving. Enough energy output, and he could mimic a volcano. "Bring it on then!"

* * *

 

Marinette sighed, for maybe the tenth time that day, idly going through various images on her computer. Things that inspired her, fashion styles and accessories, and interesting ideas to help fashion Designers. The creativity on display was something that would normally inspire Marinette to sketch down ideas like she was about to burst, but considering everything she was thinking right now, she couldn't even summon the energy to be motivated.

She sighed, looking over the design of one Hero costume that absorbed the elements around its user. She noted how the materials used were highly absorbent, but very difficult to stain, to aid the users body in the process of converting those elements into energy. Simple things were what made a costume like that.

Part of her was depressed that she never got to Design her own costume... She had had so many ideas... But there was no use on wasting a steak on a giraffe - That was to say, something that would never, ever be able to make use of it.

She had to wonder, why was she even looking at this sort of thing anymore? She was just depressing herself. What was it that she was watching this for?... Was it because she still wanted to convince herself that she could do this, even if she had lost all hope outwardly? Did her subconscious want to think she still had a shot of being a Hero? Of being someone like Adrien?

A bitter laugh escaped her. Like that could ever happen. She was no Hero.

She pushed herself away from her computer, and sighed once more. Wanting to throw herself on her bed once again, she was interrupted by her phone suddenly buzzing, her friend giving her an unexpected phone call.

"Alya?" Marinette read aloud the callers ID on her phone with a quizzical eyebrow raised. What the heck did she want? Marinette thought that Alya was busy with her studying for the tests. Maybe she needed help on one of the theories. Pressing the green button to pick up the call, Marinette spoke, "Hello?"

"Marinette, girl, are you watching the news right now?!" The tanned girls vice came so loud, so clearly, and so high pitched, Marinette came very close to dropping her phone altogether. It was like she was right next to her in person. The phone, being pressed against Marinette's ear, nearly deafened her.

" _Argh! Holy_ \- Alya, calm down!" Marinette yelled back down, rather hilariously angry. " _What_?! What is it?!"

"Girl! News! Now!" Alya repeated, still not doing much to keep the tone of her voice down at all. It was certainly an interesting experience for Marinette, having a phone conversation with someone at arm's length. She couldn't think of a time when she remembered Alya's voice being so loud and so high pitched, like she was attempting to break glass with just her voice. She wouldn't be surprised if Alya managed it at this point.

"Stop freaking shouting!" Marinette yelled back, but she did as she was told, kicking herself on her wheeled chair back to her computer desk and typing in a search word in the internet search engine. Finding a source that was being live-streamed to her monitor, Marinette wondered, what the hell Alya thought was so damn interes -

The first thing she saw was Chat Noir dodging a left hook of fire and heat from Sunstreak.

She very nearly dropped her phone right there and then. Her mouth dropped, ajar, her eyes shooting wide open, pupils focusing on what was happening in front of her.

What was he doing?

Holy crap, _what was he doing?!_

"You seeing this?!" Alya's voice came from Marinette's phone, but the blunette girl couldn't even bring herself to begin to think of the words to say. She sat there, totally enamoured.

Chat Noir was _fighting_ Sunstreak?!

Why?! His injury was still raw, and no improvements to his costume had been made to prevent him from dealing with a huge blast to the chest like that again! He had to be far weaker, far less capable of fighting now! Not only that, but Sunstreak seemed twice as powerful right now, able to cause huge fires within his palms, and engulfing anything he touched in a sea of burning.

Deconstructing and reconstructing himself quickly, Chat Noir got in three good punches in the chest, which winded the fire-based Villain. Chat then back-flipped away from the initial retaliation strikes as far as he could, before being blocked off by a sea of fire. With Sunstreak dashing in fast, he deconstructed himself once more, and re-appeared, launching one of his strong roundhouse-kicks to the side of his targets face.

He was stopped by a flaming punch to the gut.

"Marinette?" Alya's worried voice cut in again, shooting Marinette totally out of focus. "I'm coming over."

_Shit!_

Quickly, Marinette hung up. Her friend possessed the power to Teleport between phones, but she couldn't do that if the phones weren't in communication with one another. Dropping the call shut off her access point. With any luck, she could just blame it on a bad internet connection or broadband later on or something, however phones worked. It wasn’t important

She couldn't deal with Alya right now.

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

From the visuals on screen, although the camera that was being used was dealing with having to get its visuals from through a roaring fire, it was clear Chat was the underdog in this fight. He was moving and getting in good hits, but the muscular difference between the two was just way too high. Sunstreak was far better built than Chat was. And it showed, heavily. Chat’s Trait was also not coming in use, as he didn’t seem too keen on using it to injure the Villain for some reason. Maybe Chat didn’t enjoy killing or causing pain. Whatever it was, it was seriously being his undoing right about now.

Marinette knew that he was capable of fighting off Sunstreak... But his injury was preventing him from doing so. Even if he was doped up on some sort of medicine or something, he would still feel his body being unresponsive from the sheer manner of his injury.

Whatever it was, she couldn't leave him like this...

She looked at the costume she had, stored away under her mountain pile of clothes.

Maybe she'd at least make a good distraction. She owed Chat Noir that much, if nothing else.

* * *

 

Skidding away on his hands and knees once again after another failure of an attack, Chat Noir gritted his teeth. His painkillers were starting to wear off, and this fight was starting to become more of a slug fest by the second. He had no idea where the professional Heroes were, but they sure as hell couldn't get here any slower than they already were doing.

The strain in his Traits was starting to become more evident. His Teleporting power was starting to weaken, not letting him activate it as often, and as frequently, nor as precisely as he was optimally capable of. His stamina tired quickly, leaving him unable to use his powers to their fullest. His Destruction Trait was about as much use as a paving slab in an ocean, barely even getting close enough with his hands to reach the guy without being covered in fire. Even when he did, he wasn’t looking to kill this guy if he could get away with it, but it was looking more and more like nothing short of dropping a forklift on this guy was going to do anything.

He was running out of options here. He had hoped Ladybug would have come to help, but this appeared to be an adventure he had to take alone.

There was a part of him that had to wonder, would she even be of any use?

She... Was not the Hero he thought she was.

And meanwhile, Sunstreak was still going on strong, easily still going at full capacity, despite having taken a large number of hits. He showed no signs whatsoever of slowing down. Instead, he proved that he was going stronger than ever before. He had ignited a peculiar vile of flammable liquid, and had ripped apart the entire street in a dousing of unholy fire. Chat had had a hell of a time avoiding all of those strikes, and was still doing what little he could to not get incinerated. He thanked God no civilians were around.

At this rate, he wasn't going to last much longer. He glared at Sunstreak, cursing him under his breath. "Damn it!..."

There was something different about the methods of attack that the Combustion Trait user was using. The night beforehand, while he had shown serious malicious and murderous intent, he had almost seemed relaxed about doing so, whereas now, it was like he had the equivalent of a fire-themed sugar rush affecting his system, as each of his attacks was over-zealous. This circle of fire had been totally un-required, and yet, here it was, burning the tarmac they stood upon, for no real reason.

"Give up yet?!" His shrill voice called over the roaring inferno surrounding them. He was securely in his element, overdosed on power. Whenever he overused a volatile compound, Sunstreak tended to go overboard, and start shifting from his usual personality into a crazed psychopath persona. The compound Hawkmoth had given him lead him to become drunk of his own powers, generating fires without rhyme or reason - It was just because he could, at this point.

Knowing he wasn't going to win this fight himself, all Chat could think to do was to hold out for long enough that the official Heroes could take care of things. It wasn't like he was working with much other choice anymore. It was this, or he ended up getting charred alive.

Not a hard choice to make.

"Rrrraaaargh!" Channelling every bit of strength that he had left within him, he Teleported as high as he could above Sunstreak, and allowed gravity to bring him down. As he fell, he allowed his powers of Destruction to activate covering each of his arms in the ever present black colour, covered by his Hero outfit, of course, and reached out in front of him.

He landed securely atop the Villain, his deadly powers ripping off a chunk of flesh, and a large portion of the costume Sunstreak had, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. Sunstreak almost seemed totally immune to the pain that came with the strike, just immediately grabbing Chat and tossing him onto the ground.

Rolling out of the way of his neck being stomped on, Chat swept his legs to the left, hitting Sunsteak in the weakened part of the back of the legs, causing him to stumble due to his balance being thrown off. Taking advantage of this brief second of weakness and imbalance, Chat quickly swung back around, and slammed a powerful back-leg front-kick square in the face of his target.

Following that, he then dashed in to throw a reverse punch, but he suddenly found his wrist being grabbed, engulfed in flames, and then tossed aside, all in one quick, clean sweep. The pain was there instantaneously, and Chat couldn't help but let out an uncontrolled, pitched scream in the pain. "Aaaargh!"

Yet another injury to add to his ever growing list of them. He was starting to feel like a glorified punching bag.

His body wouldn't move anymore, unable to respond to the constant pain that he had undergone. He tried to activate his Teleportation Trait, but instead, he received the muscle flare backlash that he got when he was at his limits.

"You're finished." Sunstreak said behind his lopsided, disturbingly creepy smile. His costume reduced all effects of the fire, so he was able to treat throughout it without cause for concern, his palms still in fact, still flickering with flames. It was like he kept them permanently on now, like he didn't care.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Sunstreak was right. His body was done.

"So kid, tell me somethin'" Sunstreak asked, gloating. "This Vigilante crap. This whole mess. Was it worth it?"

Chat bit his lip. He refused to answer. He wasn't going to give this bastard the satisfaction of an answer. He just glared at him, a final act of defiance.

"I guess not, then." Decided the Villain, before he raised his hand in a claw grip manner.

Before he disappeared into a cube of tarmac.

It took Chat Noir a few seconds to process what the hell had just happened. He stared at the sudden cube of solid rock, hearing a pounding coming from the inside. Apparently, it was hollow, yet thick enough that Sunstreak couldn't just burn his way straight out of the cube. Once processed, Chat smirked.

"You seem to like the whole ' _Trap them in boxes_ ' thing, don't you, Ladybug?" He asked, knowing she could hear him, wherever she was.

Jumping in from her heightened position, she knelt by Chat Noir, helping him sit up. "It works, doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does, My Lady."

"Your - " Ladybug blushed. "Do you _want_ me to throw you into this fire?" Honestly, she was still planning on giving it all up. She had only been able to trap Sunstreak thanks to Chat Noir having worn him down enough to make trapping him a viable option. Were he strong enough, she would have let Chat finish him off, but he was clearly battered too much to keep fighting.

"I... Think I'll pass on that one." Chat replied with a smile, and then a hiss of pain as the female Vigilante picked him up and laid him against a wall. "Oww... Careful."

"Quit fussing."

He chuckled again. "Hey, lemme ask you something, Ladybug..." Chat said, adjusting himself so he was more comfortable. "If you could have done that the whole time... Why didn't you do it yesterday? When we first encountered the guy?" It was something Chat had just thought about, but when he thought about it, wouldn't have trapping him back then made more sense?

Ladybug was unable to give him an answer before the two of them suddenly felt a very intense heat, followed by the rubble of tarmac flying at them. Sunstreak had used his powers in such a manner that he had managed to blast a hole through his bituminous surface prison. His hands now raw and bloody, a result of his constant use of his powers, his glare was furious, and his anger unrivalled.

He quickly grasped in his palm, and ignited, a vile of yet another flammable liquid, causing it to erupt rapidly into flames, and then, he blasted those fires towards the young pair of Vigilantes.

"Diamond Defence!" Ladybug quickly reached for her yo-yo, activating her powers at the same time. Within her yo-yo, along with the various materials stored within its cover, was a small diamond she had acquired. Diamonds were simply highly-pressurized carbon atoms clumped together, so the atomic structure was very easy for her to replicate. Slamming her hands into the road around her and Chat Noir, she created a defensive semi-circle of the highly valuable, strong material, shielding them from the fires that would have otherwise overwhelmed them.

"Impressive." Chat complimented, attempting to stand up, to no avail. " _Rrrrrr_!"

"Stay down..." Ladybug ordered him, firmly. Chat was depending on her right now. She couldn't freeze up. She couldn't be scared. She couldn't run away. She wouldn’t. "I'll take it from here."

Their conversation abruptly ended when Sunstreak scaled the diamond-shield, and came crashing down, aiming to incinerate the young Vigilantes. With a touch of her weapon, Ladybug was able to create a heat-resistant shield made of Calcium Silicate merged with Carbon backing to boost its strength.

Skidding to the side, next Ladybug attempted to encase Sunstreak once more, this time, in a diamond prison, something that would be far less likely to be broken by the rapid fire use of his Trait. However, quicker on the draw this time, Sunstreak was able to manoeuvre out of the way of the precious rocks, skidding right around the attempted entrapment.

 _'Don't panic'_ Ladybug told herself, gripping her yo-yo tightly. ' _You can do this.'_

She was quickly interrupted in her thoughts when Sunstreak began to throw his various strikes at her, his fists overflowing with fire and heat. She backed off, away from the first one, and ducked to avoid the next hook to her head. She side stepped to next punch, managing to keep her body parts limp, and viable for dodging far more smoothly.

Her Trait activated once more, this time, she slammed her open palm into the stomach of the hot-handed Villain, and attempted to cover his skin in a thin layer of fire-retardant fibre, a similar material to what her outfit was made from. This didn't work quickly enough however as she suddenly felt a knee slamming into her stomach, knowing the oxygen right out of her. "Gakk!"

Sunstreak attempted to crush her neck with an over-bearing fire punch, but Ladybug slammed his face with a tarmac-based fist, which erupted from the ground. The attack seemed to catch Sunstreak unawares, leaving her with the perfect chance.

She grasped her yo-yo, and screamed, her Trait, pushed to its absolute limits, the glow from her hands almost blinding as she duplicated the atoms required at a rapid rate, created a huge, thick, diamond insulated, concrete, Calcium Silicate, and Rock Wool covered fire based prison, blocking off all routes of escape for Sunstreak.

The Combustion Villain unleashed a few attacks, but the highly-fire resistant prison simply absorbed them. Sunstreak was defeated, in captivity.

And Ladybug was seriously out of breath. She hadn't pushed her Trait that far before, and it had taken a lot out of her. "Haah... Haaaaah... Did we... Did we do it?"

"Nope." Chat commented, a smile on his face. He had watched the fight closely, and once again, had to humbly admit, he had been wrong about ever doubting this girl. She had proven that she was someone who he had been right to admire. When push came to shove, she really could work wonders, couldn't she? "You did it."

Ladybug didn't have the time to respond to his words, before they found themselves surrounded, by official police members. Of course. She had forgotten about them. She backed up, quickly kneeling by Chat Noir, helping him stand upright.

"Keep your hands where we can see them." One officer commanded. They were being arrested.

"Just come quietly, Vigilantes. This don't need to get violent."

"Zap 'em if they move."

"Are you fricking kidding me?!" Chat yelled, an action that shocked even Ladybug and the officers, hell, even himself. "Did you not just see the hell we went through to take this guy down?! You guys weren't able to beat him, and now that we managed to stop him, you want to arrest us as well? You might as well toss any Heroes who take out Villains into the fucking Bastille if this is how you repay people who do your damn jobs for you!"

He knew they were only doing their job... But this wasn't right. After everything he’d done… No, after everything the Hero in all this, Ladybug, had done, only to have this thrown at her?... This was bullshit!

"Do you know how hard this girl fought to keep this guy from turning this entire block into a black bag of soot and ashes?! Do you know what injuries we both suffered?! When you all turned heel and ran, we stayed and finished the fight, but you think we’re the bad guys, that we’re the ones who need ‘ _Zapping_ ’?!" He pointed right behind them all, right at the prison Sunstreak was trying his best to escape. “The enemy is right over there, not here! Leave her the hell alone!” His breathing was violent through gritted teeth, a small trail of blood from his gums dripping out and down his chin. He was explosively angry right now, more than he even knew was possible for him.

"Chat... Stop." Ladybug told him gently, somehow remaining calm in the face of this. How she was able to do this amazed Chat Noir, who would have refused to on principle, had she not stopped him first. "Just... Let me say something first."

A furious Chat had assumed she wanted to go quietly, but he was shut up when Ladybug boldly made a loud claim for ever singly officer there to hear.

"Listen up! My name is Ladybug, and this is Chat Noir! We aren't doing this Vigilante work for acceptance! We aren't doing it because we have to! We aren't even doing this for self-gratification! We're doing this because it's the right thing to do!"

Every word she spoke, Chat's eyes grew that tiny bit wider. What had happened to this girl? She was so timid yesterday, and now... She was this...

"You can love us, or you can hate us! I don't really care which! We can't, and we won't, force you to do anything that will put your ethics as officers at risk! We won’t do anything that makes the Heroes have to give us special exceptions! We won’t even try to force the innocent people of Paris to love us and turn against you! That’s not why we’re here!"

This amazing... This bold, this confident person...

"It doesn't matter if you like us or not! What does matter is that we're here to stay! That we're here to protect the people of Paris where Heroes and police can't! This is our city, and we're going to defend it, whether you like it or not!"

There it was. Exactly how Chat felt, word for word.

This girl!...

Whoever this girl was... There was someone incredible underneath that red and black mask. An unexpected Hero. An unexpected person, full stop.

It didn't matter who that person was.

Chat already knew he was in love.

* * *

 

"Well, that escape could have gone better." The cat-themed vigilante commented with a smug smirk. It was about a half hour later from Ladybug’s declaration to the city, but that wasn’t to say that it had been an easy time getting away from the cops who were now hunting them down with gusto.

"Maybe if you'd Teleported us out of there in the first place, we wouldn't have had to have a ten minute chase throughout the city!" Ladybug responded defensively.

"I told you, I needed to recover my stamina. De-Materialization takes a lot out of me"

"So you just decided to have me carry you. You're not exactly light, you know."

"Hey, we're alright, aren't we?"

Ladybug sighed, smiling at the back and forth banter they were sharing. Though they were giving one another a hard time, their jokes weren't anything serious. They were just throwing them back and forth, to ease up the tension of the previous hour or so. "Yeah, I suppose we are."

Chat smiled back at her, and nodded. "You know... You were incredible back there."

"H-Huh?"

"Last night, you didn't do anything... And I thought, ' _Wow, this girl's useless. Where's that girl who took down a Villain in one move that I saw on the news?'_ "

"Wow. Tell me what you really think." She joked, but she couldn't entirely blame the black-cat themed Hero for thinking that way. She had been pathetically useless that day.

"But that back there... That was amazing." Chat remembered the event so well, he could recite what happened, and exactly how it had happened, despite it happening only a short while ago. He could tell you every single detail of the fight if you asked him to. "I know you told me your Trait was Creation... But that was an amazing use of such a unique power... You're amazing."

"I was scared." Ladybug said, suddenly.

"You were what?"

"Last night. I didn't move. I just watched you fight Sunstreak, and I had to rely on you to save me." The female Vigilante recalled the previous fight with Sunstreak, where Chat had received his serious injuries. "I was scared. My body wouldn't move because I was scared. You got hurt because I was scared... I'm sorry."

"You think I wasn't?" Chat asked, a warm smile indicating his sincerity. "It's a terrifying experience, being in a fight. No matter how brave someone acts when they fight, they're always worried, always scared, if only just a little bit. No one wants to lose a fight. No one wants to be punched in the face. No one wants to be beaten. Those are all fears fighters have to deal with when they get into a conflict." He spoke from experience, and Ladybug could tell that, despite not actually needing him to elaborate. She listened to his words, enamoured with them. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid during a fight, especially against someone like Sunstreak... But you faced him back there. You fought him, and you won. That's not something that I think you need to be ashamed about. It's okay to be scared... But it's not okay to let that stop you."

Ladybug took his words deep to heart, smiling yet again. He understood what she felt so well, it was like he was reading her mind. She wanted a way to repay him... To thank him for everything that he'd done... "...Your outfit."

"Huh?"

"It's damaged."

"I guess so? I mean, it got burned like, seven times."

"I'll bring you some new clothes tomorrow. You can wear those from now on. I'll make them look better than what you have now, and more durable."

"Are you trying to insult my designing skills?"

"A little."

* * *

 

About an hour before the fight between Chat Noir and Ladybug against Sunstreak, Shinuya had managed to navigate his way into a dark, back alleyway. Graffiti and sinister messages, cracks, and trash, tossed casually on the ground littered this part of Paris. It wasn't an area that you would want to live in. Delinquents weren't uncommon here, but they rarely caused trouble, thanks to the society of Heroics they lived in.

The Japanese teenager made a beeline straight for the location that he knew was the meeting point for Luis, Mark and Melody, and the rest of his group, about five members in all, excluding himself, of course. He had gathered the information that they felt was needed, so now he was reporting back to them.

He wasn't particularly keen on meeting in dark alleyways, not being a local and all, so he easily felt like he was lost, in over his head. What was wrong with meeting in a library, or a coffee shop, or somewhere less freaking obscure?

Their country, their customs, he supposed. It was an ideal he had developed when he first moved to this country to study for his Elite course. Just because he had come from afar, that didn't mean he expected everyone to accommodate specifically for him. He wanted to learn about the way life worked in France, he didn't want to be led by the nose all the time. So he told the locals, their country, their customs, their way of doing things.

Although, with this particular way of doing things, he was really beginning to detest this aspect of his philosophy.

"Shinuya!"

Hearing a familiar voice, Shinuya managed to relax, even before turning, to see his group, all huddled up in an alleyway he had just walked past without seeing them. Seeing as there were six of them, how he managed to miss them was anyone's guess. Regardless, he jogged down the alleyway to join his allies. Luis greeted him with a high five.

"You took your time."

"I ran into someone."

"Was it Agreste?" A bulky, dark skinned teenager asked, sat atop a dumpster, wearing a blank tank top. He was a member of the group who was called Zougerio. Like Shinuya, he was of Japanese dependency.

"It was." The red haired teenager nodded, with a smirk on his face.

"Did you get it?" Melody asked, her eyes raised up.

"Yep."

"And?" This time, Marko was the one to question Shinuya.

"It's him alright."

"You're certain?"

"Have I lead you wrong before?"

"You know if we screw this up, then we don't get a do-over." Getkuu reminded Shinuya. Getkuu was a purple haired individual, very calm and serious, and not a fan of using his powers unless absolutely required. Not a lot of people believed him when he told them where he was from, he claimed, so he hadn't even mentioned it to anyone he knew in France yet.

"I know that."

"So, are you sure it's him?"

To prove his credibility, Shinuya raised his right hand, clearly, so everyone in the alleyway could see his palm.

And he activated the Trait known as Destruction. His right hand became covered in a dark, black colour, and a slightly bubbling effect leaving his now dark grey skin.

"Yeah. I'm sure."


	8. Group Of Traitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who was to say Ladybug and Chat Noir were the only Illegal Heroes in Paris?...

There wasn't a memory recently that Adrien could call correlate with his current happiness right now. He was genuinely happier than he had ever been before, and it showed very clearly to anyone who saw him. After he had seen a Trait doctor once again to have his burns treated and removed, he had made his way to classes, and his sunny disposition was evident to Nino the second he walked through the door.

"I guess you must be feeling better then, huh?" The Hydrokinetic asked, lightly tapping his friends shoulder once he sat next to him.

"Absolutely!" Adrien beamed. Just looking at him, he seemed to almost glow with how he smiled. He was so visually peppy and cheerful, if you as little as looked vaguely in his direction, you'd have to smile yourself. His merry walk and all was infectious, easing up the people around him.

"Glad to hear it, buddy." Nino nodded, handing Adrien a small stack of papers. "Here's my notes. You're gonna want to copy them quickly."

"What'd I miss?"

"Appliances of Traits, Heroic duties, that sort of thing."

"This shouldn't be too bad then." Adrien commented, opening the notes. He already had a very good understanding of this sort of subject. Inside was a long list of heavily detailed, highly complicated notes, which made Adrien pause for a second. Nino had a habit of over-simplifying any notes that he made about class work, so if this was his version of things being simple, he could only imagine the true complexity of things that he had missed. But that was to be expected, after all. The finals were just a day away. Really, it had been a bad move for Adrien to leave, but he wouldn't have been able to focus with him being the way he was yesterday anyway.

Finals entailed a series of trials that they would have to endure, but no one ever knew what exactly these trails would be, as they reportedly changed every year, so getting information on them was impossible. They only way to prepare was to study, trait, and be damn good at fighting.

"You think you're ready for the exams tomorrow?" Nino asked, visually rather nervous, and it was very understandable. This had been what the last year of their lives had been leading up until. Anyone who claimed not to be nervous was a complete liar.

Adrien nodded. "I think I've got this down. Well, I'm sure I've got the physical applications down. It's the writing aspect I'm a bit worried about." While he knew plenty about fighting and how to use a Trait with skill and versatility, he knew very little about the theory and applications of Heroics. He knew enough, but enough wasn't going to cut it in this exam. He needed to know plenty more. There was no limit on how much everyone needed to know in order to pass this examination.

"The amount of time you spend in a gym dude, I'm not surprised." His friend sarcastically commented, before handing him one of his books. In it, was a selection of diagrams entailing the steps a Hero should take in a hostage situation depending on the kind of Trait that they had. "We're mostly left to study on our own today too. So, I guess we've got to work on our academia."

Able to overhear their entire conversation from their seat just above Adrien and Nino, Alya quickly came up with yet another one of her many plans to force Marinette into a social interaction with Adrien - Whether she approved of them or not. Wasn't that what a good friend was for?

It also helped that Alya found doing this extremely funny.

She took a quick glance at Marinette, who already knew that Alya was going to go through with one of her plans as usual, and gave her a mildly pained, embarrassed look. "Please don't."

"Hey, you two - "

Marinette buried her face in her hands, covering her pre-emptively red cheeks. "Oh God."

"If you guys need book help, you should hang with us." Alya had to really fight the growing smirk that threatened to take over her face as she pointed to the blunette girl with her thumb, and making very sure to look at Adrien while she said so, "She's got this stuff down just like that!" She added emphasis on the final word of her sentence by snapping her fingers.

 _'Alya, why?!'_ Marinette internally screamed at her friend, shooting her a nasty glare that was only met with her friend's self-satisfied smile. This was by no means the first time the girl with dark hair with a reddish-tint had done this, and Marinette knew for a fact, it wouldn't be the last. Even in this fictional universe in which she seemed to inhabit when it came to the two of them, Marinette was convinced Alya would keep doing this even if she and Adrien wound up dating. Her cheeks burning up, she turned to face Nino and Adrien, the blond model looking up at her with a spark of interest in his eyes that made her heart jump. "I-I mean, I-I k-know a fair a-amount..."

"You mean you know pretty much all of it." Alya said, nudging her with her own elbow. She wasn't entirely gentle with it either. "You need to know it all, because of your Trait, remember?"

"Please stop, Alya." Marinette pleaded quietly, her face roughly as red as her blood. A combination of exhaustion, assessment, and awkwardness was combining together to beg, please, don't make this happen.

"Oh come on, Marinette, it'll be fun." The girl said with a laugh, patting her friend on the back. She wasn't going to let her friend bail out of this one if she could help it. She'd done this a many great number of times, so she knew how to get Marinette into these situations. “You’re a good teacher, and I think these two could use the help.”

She was incredibly reluctant, until she heard Adrien's voice pipe up.

"I could uh, really use the help if you could, Marinette."

She didn't really need much more than that, although, she wound up being a total nervous train wreck for the next few hours as she went over the various aspects of Heroics in their written manner. She went over the theories of Heroics, and the ethics a Hero was supposed to abide by. Most of it was common sense sort of stuff that Adrien and Nino already knew, but the issue lied in the way they worded their answers. It didn't take them long though, to get around that particular issue, and improve their work by a huge amount. Marinette could see the improvement herself, easily noticing it. Adrien would be fine, she was sure of it.

Adrien had been incredibly thankful, and had offered to go over combat practice with her, as that was his absolute best area, but she very politely declined, thanking him for his offer.

Ladybug knew what she needed to know about combat. And speaking of Ladybug, she had to get home to finish a gift for Chat Noir.

* * *

 

The two Vigilantes had met up once again that night, Ladybug carrying a bag in her hands. Since Marinette had returned home that day, she had spent the vast majority of her time working on the outfit she had promised the cat-themed Hero, and it had been a very challenging experience but the struggle kept reminding her of her love for fashion, and why she had developed such a passion for the craft.

The issue she had run into with his outfit was that he was going for a leather outfit. That was all fine, but she also needed to find a way to increase the durability of the material. For whatever reason, he had mentioned that it had to be leather, so she assumed it was something to do with it boosting his powers, or suppressing a negative effect, or something along those lines. Whatever the reason, she had decided to go for a full-body-spandex type of deal, mixing the leather with a highly durable fibre-alloy. The tail and cat ears were made of the same sort of material. This same material also had fire retardancy, to aid in case they wound up fighting a Pyrokinetic like Sunstreak ever again, God forbid.

She also decided to add a set of claws at the end of his fingers. She decided that he might as well make the most of his smaller movements. Since he needed to grab things to De-materialize them, she reasoned that claws would also add just that small bit of damage to his opponents, and make the fight just that tiny bit easier. The claws were wrapped in the leather-alloy at the fingertip, protecting the sharp, steel claws from the effects of Chat's Trait.

The mask had been next, and for this, Marinette had used a clever trick that she had used for her own mask, to keep it securely on her face, without risk of it being ripped off, or becoming loose on her face when she went at high speeds. She had used an adhesive glue on the inner side of the face mask, which she had used her Trait's power to alter ever so slightly. It reacted to heat, securing it on her face, and reacted only to the body heat of the person who was wearing it, meaning that only the person who put on the mask could take it off... Short of tearing their faces off, of course.

The bell and the zipper... Well, that had just been for fun, mostly. Chat had added them to his first costume, so she decided to also give it a try. An added gift she had added in was the inclusion of a long, metallic baton that he could use for combat situations she he need it. She had designed it so it could extend a large amount, but still keep the same density and durability that it had in its most basic form. Chat Noir seemed very excited about the weapon in particular, and began doing a huge variety of what looked to be fencing techniques with the newfound weapon.

Overall, Chat Noir's new design was a perfect fit, and a massive improvement. It was now extremely durable, and could take a few hard hits when it needed to. It was sleeker, smoother, and the leather guaranteed both comfort and, according to Chat Noir anyway, practicality. Granted, it was skin tight, but Chat didn't seem to mind that too much.

"Well?" Ladybug asked, sat on the side of the building they were on chimney, watching Chat try out a few moves, trying to get used to his new outfit. He was throwing punches, kicks, and Teleporting around the place. It wasn't at risk of breaking or tearing, since the designer had reinforced it with its fibre-alloy, so Ladybug was content to let him jump around all he liked. "Feel good?"

"Feels good?" Chat asked, glancing back at the girl. He smiled at her, like she had just given him life itself. "This feels amazing!" He had no complaints. It was comfy, it was durable, flexible, and it covered his arms, securing his secrecy. It was combat capable, and it hadn’t taken long at all for him to slip into it.

Best of all, it had been created by Ladybug.

"Glad you like it." The young girl said, jumping down from her elevated position. "It shouldn't break as easily as that other one you had on."

"One question though." Chat said, with a raised hand, and a sly grin. "How'd you know my measurements?"

"Lucky guess." Ladybug responded quickly. Of course, she'd had to take rough estimates to guess his sizes, and to do that, she'd had to look at his body a little more closely than she otherwise would have done, but she didn't exactly feel like embarrassing herself by admitting that right now.

"Is that right?" Chat asked, a peculiar grin on his face. "Sure you weren't - "

"I'm gonna stop you right there." Ladybug replied, pressing a finger on his lips, shutting him up. Following that, she gave him a quick smirk, and used her middle finger to flick his nose, which made his stagger back a bit. "No, I wasn't."

He rubbed his nose, and then responded with a chuckle. "It's a lot more fun to imagine things my way."

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Absolutely." Chat admitted with absolutely no shame whatsoever, even grinning as he confessed to it. "My Lady."

"Well if you're gonna flirt with me..." Ladybug looked at him, and said, her hands on her hips, "Can you at least do a better job of it?"

"Yeah, please do. This is painful to listen to."

The sheer shock of hearing a third voice join in their conversation made both Chat and Ladybug jump upright. Turning as quickly as they could, they saw another teenager, roughly the same age as them, stood behind them, with his hands in his pockets. The teenager was male, and had what was either dark blue or violet skin, Ladybug struggled to tell the difference. His hair was a jet black, and the jacket he wore was a snow white colour. While he still retained his humanoid figure, and kept the average appearance of a human better than some Trait users could, he was definitely one of the more outlandish people that Ladybug remembered seeing. Something about his natural human appearance with just these small visual ticks made him stand out. "Relax." He said, his hands came from his pockets, to show he held nothing within them to be used as a weapon. It was a peaceful gesture, but because they didn’t know his Trait, for all they knew, he could shoot lightning at them from his palms. No strikes came though. "I'm not lookin' for a fight."

"Who're you?" Ladybug asked, reaching for her weapon secured around her hips. Due to them being Vigilantes, her and Chat had to avoid both the Heroes as well as the Villains. When encountered with people they didn't know, they had to take the road of caution.

"Depends what name you're after."

"So you're a Hero?" The phrasing the teenager heavily suggested he had an alternative code name, like a professional Hero would have. Chat made a fist, ready to fight if he had to.

"Last time I checked, you weren't a Hero either, and you're still going by Chat Noir, aren't ya?" The voice was filled with a thick line of sarcasm. Judging by the strength of his accent, Ladybug guessed he was from the southern regions of France, around Vichy, most likely. Shrugging his shoulders, the teenager responded with his code name. "Name's Flinch." Before he could allow Ladybug or Chat Noir to debate the reason for his name, he turned and called out. "Hey, Sureshot! I found 'em!"

The teenager was quickly joined by another teenage male who looked more like a bandit than any sort of Hero or Villain. Sureshot, as his name was, was wearing an all khaki uniform, including a very dark green and grey banana that he kept above his nose, blocking any facial features that he may have. His pockets were lined with darts, and other small objects. Wearing the clothing atop his head like a hijab, his hair was also covered, and his eyes were blocked out by a pair of sunglasses. In short, there was next to nothing natural about the guy that could be seen. All that could be made out was his skin tone, a similar one to that of Chat Noir's.

"This them?" Sureshot asked, eyeing both Chat and Ladybug, like he was suspicious as to whom it was he was looking at. His hand hovered over a dart in his left pocket, like a cowboy in an action movie with his hand above his holster.

Mockingly, Flinch leaned in closer, as if to double check his findings. "Oh right, my mistake. No, this is freakin' Kuragari's brother and sister, you know, the ones that like to dress up and run around Paris _as a freaking cat and ladybug_! Who the hell else do you think they are?!" Flinch's response was slow paced, sarcastic, and explosive towards the end, revealing the pent up aggression issues that he had to hold.

"Calm yourself." Sureshot told him in a monotone, making it clear that he wasn't finding any sort of humour in their current process. He then glanced at the two Vigilantes in front of him, and nodded, conceding that yes, it was the two of them. "Alright, fair enough. It's them."

"Really! No shit!"

Next thing that the two already bewildered Vigilantes knew, the two teenagers in front of them ended up in some sort of heated debate over the language and attitude that the blue skinned one had used. The khaki wearing one seemed to be more a disciplinarian than he did any sort of anything else. While he was calm, the blue skinned one was loud and very energetic about the debate, taking whatever shots he could get in the fight.

"Uh... What the hell is going on here?" Chat asked, finally giving in to his curiosity and downright confusion. He had no idea if he should be fighting or listening to these two people bickering, and trying to stop them from throwing verbal punches at one another.

"I have no idea." Ladybug confessed, feeling roughly the same amount of confusion as Chat was right about now. This felt like they'd just intruded in some sort of domestic drama that they really had no right to be involved in.

Tearing himself away from the conflict, Sureshot responded, using short sentences, and clear rhetoric. "We have someone who wishes to meet you both. A person that you should be very grateful found you before anyone else did."

Someone who wanted to speak to them... The first thought was the police. They hadn't been a known thing for very long at all, so who else would want to speak to Ladybug and Chat Noir? There wasn't really anyone they could think of who would even know about them, or care enough to send two people to hunt them down.

"Who?" Chat Noir asked, still on the alert, in case this wound up being a Villain trap of some description.

"Our master."

* * *

 

How they had convinced the two of them to go along was something Chat Noir and Ladybug wouldn't quite figure out. One minute, they had been firmly against going anywhere with either of these two people, and the next thing they knew, they were in what seemed to be an abandoned dock house harbour container somewhere along The Seine River. The curiosity had been awoken in both of them, leading them to want to know just that little bit more about these people.

They were Vigilantes, apparently, just like them.

They claimed to be part of a large group, of about maybe ten or eleven of them. A huge number for a group of what were considered outlaws, especially for a city the size of Paris. Walking through what was their current hideout, Chat and Ladybug were given a numerous amount of odd glances, with various people and their Traits prepared and primed for a high octane battle.

"I don't think the rest of your group likes us." Ladybug commented to Flinch. Flinch just ignored her, which only added to the growing sense of distrust she was feeling. They had no reason to trust Flinch and Sureshot, no real reason to even be here. Curiosity had bested them, and here they were, though Ladybug certainly didn't hold out any sort of hope for this to go smoothly.

"They're just on edge." Sureshot reassured Ladybug, speaking up for Flinch's anti-social attitude towards the two. "We've been fighting a long time, so they're pretty sceptical of anyone who they don't know too well."

It was a sentiment Chat Noir sort of understood. People tended to be very weary of new individuals when they didn't know them. He had been treated in the same way, people he didn't know being generally very cautious of him before they got to know the person that he was, even as Adrien. Fame and fortune tended to build up a person’s image as being fierce, monstrous, and unstoppable when angered, which was the furthest away from who he really was. It wasn't until he had defeated that Villain, Terrawatt, that people got a sense of who he was, and began to trust him. Part of that came from his secluded upbringing, and he couldn't even begin to claim that he blamed anyone for thinking that way. That was why he didn't hold the lack of trust against any members of this group.

"Ay, Sureshot, you found them?" A voice from up above called out to their current guide.

A voice Chat Noir recognized.

Stood atop a storage container, stood a red haired individual with a black highlight. Chat recognized him quickly as the boy who had helped him when he was Adrien to get to the hospital. He had a lopsided smile that revealed his teeth, which were ever so slightly yellow.

Tasuka Shinuya.

"You're..."

"Chat Noir, Ladybug, right?" Shinuya questioned, leaping down from his elevated position, and landing beside his khaki wearing colleague. Shinuya's current outfit was a white jacket, with sleeves that cut off just halfway down his biceps. At the end of those sleeves was a black cut-off point that went around the hole. Underneath that white jacket was a dark grey vest. She made note that it was the same material his trousers were made of. Looking at them, Ladybug saw they were durable, yet highly absorbent. Should he take an attack like that, he would probably suffer additional effects, making her question, what the hell did he want that for? "Name's Tasuka Shinuya. Call me Shinuya. Your country, your customs - I insist."

Remembering the exact same line from his introduction to Adrien previously, Chat raised an eyebrow. "What's this all about?"

"I'm guessing these two didn't tell you much. Sorry 'bout them, they're a little hard-headed." Shinuya said with a smirk, before waving the two away. "I got this guys, you get outta here."

His friends did as instructed without question. He held some authority, it seemed, but he appeared to hold it with dignity, not allowing it to corrupt him. He did not speak like a superior, but rather a friend, telling his companions to go while he sorted out the complicated things.

"Okay," Ladybug started, once Flinch and Sureshot had left, "Can you please tell us what's going on?"

"Sure thing." Shinuya said, motioning for them to follow him as he walked to a darker part of their storage container. He seemed to trust the two of them enough to turn his back on them, to not monitor them every step of the way. In a weird way, it calmed down the two young Vigilantes.

"Long story short, we're Vigilantes, like you two are." Shinuya explained. Though he had expected it since seeing him in this makeshift base, Chat still was surprised that Shinuya was a Vigilante. He had seemed anything but that when he had met him just the previous day. "Our master brought us all together after seeing we had some potential, and trained us. So, we fight for him. He's fighting a certain individual who's causing a lot of problems for Paris."

"A certain individual?"

"Not my place to say who." Shinuya said with a sigh. "Master Fu will explain if he feels that you're worthy of it." After a brief pause, and seeing the confusion on their faces, he added, "He's the person who leads us. Taught us how to use our Traits."

Daring to ask, Chat questioned the Japanese teenager, "So... What is your Trait?"

"Trait Absorption."

Tasuka Shinuya - Trait - Trait Absorption - Shinuya possesses an incredibly unique Trait. When he comes into contact with another individual, he has a 0.001% chance to 'Copy' Their Trait. He can increase this percentage thought extended contact with the person, or their Trait directly, but the overall chance still remains very low. With enough extended contact, he can guarantee a copy of their Trait. When his Trait activates, he can use the 'Copied' Trait for up to an hour before the effect wears off. However, he has a further 0.001% chance (0.000001 chance overall) for this Trait to become a permanent part of his biology. For example, if Shinuya were to be hit by an individual who had a Tail as their Trait, he has a 0.001% chance to grow a Tail for an hour, and a 0.000001% chance to permanently grow keep the tail. Using highly Absorbent materials, he can increase his chances of this happening. Despite its incredibly low percentage to activate, he has permanently acquired three Traits so far. This Trait is powerful, but has several downsides, including the fact that Shinuya gains the weaknesses of any Trait that he has absorbed, and that acquiring a new ability will often leave him with injury due to having to be in such close proximity to the attacks or attacker.

Ladybug and Chat both raised their eyebrows at this. Such a Trait existed? The ability to keep consistently adding on power after power if certain conditions were met? It sounded like a very situational Trait, but relied a lot on sheer luck to work. It was yet another sign, the world of Traits was just unpredictable, unimaginable and at times, inconceivable. They found themselves wonder, what were those Traits that he permanently had added to his arsenal of powers?

"In here." Shinuya gestured to a hole in the wall at the far side of the room, covered in shadows, but with a very faint light coming from the inside. "Master Fu is in there, waiting for you. Trust me, he's a friendly guy. He'll tell you everything you need to know."

For whatever reason, both the young Vigilantes were hesitant to actually step through the hole in the wall, to meet the face behind everything this group apparently stood for. Perhaps it was because he led such a large group of what were basically outlaws. In their heads, they had an image of a rough-and-tough, no nonsense sort of punk, whom they didn't want to piss off.

Although she would have preferred not to, Ladybug took the first steps towards the entrance, and eventually crawled her way into the darkness, coming out of the other side. If they were here, they may as well see this all the way through, and worst comes to it, they could fight their way out. Chat could Teleport them away. Something or other, but they’d figure it out. Chat quickly followed her. They didn't notice, but Shinuya came along also, giving them a wide birth.

There wasn't really much for them to crawl through, since it was more a crack that lead into the room. Squarely placed in the centre of the room was a single candle, illuminating the entire room poorly, but enough of the tiny flame lit up the face of a man, sat with his legs crossed, not far from the candle. The tiny aglow from the faint flame illuminated the features of an old, peaceful-appearing man. He was short in structure, smaller than either Chat Noir or Ladybug, by at least a foot. He reminded Ladybug of a monk in a certain sense, especially with how he looked, sat in front of this single candle, like he was meditating.

It didn't take much to figure out that he was of Chinese origin, and his grey hair seemed to be placed on his head in the typical manner that seemed almost stereotypical for a Chinese man. He had a grey goatee, a moustache, and a bald cut around the top of his head, the remainder of his hair running around the width of his skull. To put it bluntly, he looked harmless. He didn't seem to be the kind of person who would ever hurt a fly.

Not the kind of person who would lead a bunch of dangerous Vigilantes.

Ladybug and Chat Noir shot one another an odd glance apiece. This was the leader of a group of what were basically outlaws? He certainly didn’t look the part, and both of them suddenly felt a lot less intimidated by the group surrounding them.

"Ladybug, and Chat Noir, yes?" The old man spoke. He was very calm, and spoke in a friendly manner. What caught both the young Heroes eyes was the fact his eyes were still closed, as though he were in meditation still.

"Who're you?" Chat asked, curious for answers.

"My name is Fu." The Chinese man finally broke from his meditation, and turned to face both of them, revealing his brown eyes. He really did appear to be incapable of hurting any insect, judging by the soft smile he gave both the teenagers. His red Hawaiian shirt did nothing to help his image. Part of Chat wondered if this was a joke. He made a hand motion, as if he were trying to draw them both closer. "Come. Sit down." He saw the hesitation that they both had, and tried to reassure those concerns. "Do not worry, I mean you no harm."

Chat was the one who nodded and sat down first this time, taking a seat opposing Fu. For whatever reason, he felt that Fu was someone they could trust. Someone they could reply on. His swift action made Ladybug soon follow him, sitting next to her partner of three days.

Shinuya made his presence known by standing behind Fu, but it wasn't clear if he was here to defend Fu, or if it was because Fu trusted him, or if he was just being intrusive. Whatever the reason, Shinuya didn’t look like he was here to be friendly, but to throw them out, or even kill them if that was what it was going to take. Knowledge of his Trait in mind, neither Chat Noir Ladybug wanted to anger him too much, for fear of seeing just what Shinuya was capable of.

"So, you are the two new Heroes to our city." Fu spoke softly and calmly, and he chose his words with intent. 'Heroes' had been a deliberate choice of words. Placing his hands upon his knees, he let out a calm, relaxed sigh. "You two are very brave children."

"We're not Heroes though." Chat said, feeling the need to deny the claim. He knew what he was. He wasn't a Hero. He was an outlaw, and he accepted this. Becoming a Hero was his ambition. He felt like saying he was a Hero now was an insult to the people who put their lives on the line day by day as the professionals. "We're... Just Vigilantes."

It was a sentiment Ladybug agreed with as well, giving a solemn nod.

"Is there a difference?" Fu asked, catching the attention of the two illegal Heroes. "A Hero is one who helps people. A Vigilante is one who helps people. A bad Vigilante is as common as a corrupt Hero. So is there truly a difference between what we do?" He saw the look Chat gave him, and smiled warmly. "You want to be a Hero, don't you? It's a noble goal to work towards, sacrificing yourself in the name of others. Is that not what you do as a Vigilante? How is that different to a Hero?"

Chat wanted to say how Vigilantes were illegal. How they could endanger people. How he was doing this out of some sort of need to prove to himself that he wasn't a monster... If he did this to prove he wasn't a monster, wouldn't that mean, by definition, he was a monster? Putting people at risk... To prove something to himself, and himself alone... Wasn't that selfish?

"Everyone here knows one another." Shinuya said, suddenly speaking up. "We all know each other's names. We know each other's faces, and we know each other's Traits. We know why we chose to become Vigilantes, and we keep each other in line."

"So, why did you want to be a Vigilante, Shinuya?" Ladybug asked, speaking up for the first time, overcoming her shy attitude.

"It's sorta selfish... But I wanted to prove I wasn't worthless." Shinuya confessed. He looked at his hands, as if to inspect his own powers. "I didn't learn about my Trait until I was ten, given the nature of it... So I spent my childhood thinking I was the only Traitless person on the planet. The only reason I want to be a Vigilante now... Is because I want to prove I'm not worthless."

"And there is nothing wrong with that, at least in my opinion." Master Fu said in a reassuring voice. "I have been on this Earth a long time, and one of the many things that has always impressed me in my hundred-and-eighty-six years, is the dedication and selflessness of the younger generations." Fu seemed to enjoy smiling a lot, as he did so once again. "No matter the reason, a person who saves a life is still a lifesaver. That is what I believe."

Somehow, that all made Chat feel a bit better about his reasons for being a Vigilante.

"A hundred-eighty-six... So do you have a longevity Trait?" Ladybug asked, curious. While Traits had advanced science a huge amount, and while it wasn't uncommon for a person to live up until a-hundred-and-forty, reaching a hundred-eighty-six was extremely rare. There were cases of some people living up to three hundred years of age, but those were immensely rare cases.

"Not entirely." Fu chuckled, before displaying his pink-glowing palms. "My Trait is a humble Healing Trait. Nothing fancy, like your abilities."

Master Fu - Trait - Healing - Fu is able to store up, and share his energy with other people as a form of healing. He must be within touching distance of a person in order for his power to work. Doing so will deplete his energy and overdoing it will cause him to suffer serious injury. With careful use, Fu can extend his own life cycle with this Trait, as he has constant access to very efficient healing capabilities.

After a nod of understanding, it was time. "Guess I'll ask then." Chat sighed, before he looked straight at Fu, with a deadpanned, serious expression. "What'd you want to meet us for?"

It was a very valid question, one Ladybug was also very curious as to hearing. These people, whoever they were, had gone out of their way to hunt down these two Vigilantes whom only had a very brief moment of fame within the cities media. They weren't exactly the most famous people in the city - Though they had made a splash, that much was certain.

But to go out of their way to hunt down these two?

Something wasn't right about that.

The question seemed to make Shinuya flinch for a moment, like it had come out of nowhere, and he hadn't been expecting it. Perhaps he had expected the two of them to be captivated with the wisdom of his master, but it didn't look like he was anticipating a suspicious pair of Vigilantes. A brief part of him looked ready to attack, before his master made a hand sign, a raised pinkie and middle finger, which sufficiently calmed down the Absorption Trait user.

"A fair question." Fu stated, nodding, the candles flickers reflecting on his face. He stared at that dancing flame for a short while, that very light bouncing back from his eyes. When he glanced back at the two teenagers, he asked, "Have either of you heard of an individual by the name Hawkmoth?"

Chat Noir and Ladybug glanced at one another, expecting the other to reveal that they had known about this man for a while, but neither of them did. Eventually, they both returned their gazes to Fu, and shook their heads simultaneously.

"He's a Villain." Shinuya revealed to them, catching their attention, seeing they had no idea who Hawkmoth was. There seemed to be a lot of hatred in Shinuya’s voice, anger that he felt towards the aforementioned Villain. "He's a nasty piece of work. He's involved in a lot of underground crime. Sunstreak worked for him. Was probably on direct orders from Hawkmoth himself to try and roast the pair of you, why, we don't know."

Sunstreak worked for Hawkmoth? For the Dual Trait user and the Conversion Trait user, this was a rather startling revelation. This meant that they already technicality had encounters with this sort of Villain, and Sunstreak had been his lackey. Someone like Sunstreak was a terrifying force to be reckoned with. One shuddered to think what the man who held the reigns on a person like that was like. Their attention now fully grabbed, both teens listened closely, taking in each word.

"He is the leader of a large crime group that uses their Traits for very dangerous purposes." Fu added on, with a depressed sigh. "In this world, we are each gifted a unique ability, that allows us to stand out from everyone else. We are gifted. Fortunate. Some people cannot learn that with their powers, comes a responsibility to be sensible and selfless with it. Villains are born this way. Men like Hawkmoth desire a new world. A world we do not understand, but they are fanatical to create, for one reason of another. Many have dangerous Traits. Many more are dangerous people. We fear that if their plan is a success, many lives will be lost."

"So, your group is trying to take him down?" Ladybug asked, now glancing around the small room. If Hawkmoth had such a large group, what made these people think that ten or eleven members was enough to...

Oh.

"To put it bluntly, we're understaffed." Shinuya admitted. "We've been fighting him for a while now, but with our numbers? We've not been able to take down a whole lot of them. Maybe three or four of them, but none of them gave us any info we wanted, so we left them for the police to grab. They have some of the strongest abilities I've seen. And yet, you two managed to take down Sunstreak..."

"So what you're asking is..."

"We'd like you to join our group." Fu stated. "We would be highly honoured if you would consider joining us in our fight against this Villain. We believe that your abilities and Traits could be of a massive advantage to our fight."

There it was.

That was what they were after.

Recruitment.

What both Chat Noir and Ladybug knew, was that they couldn't say yes right away. That wasn't an option. There was a lot to consider regarding these choices they had.

For starters - What evidence did they have that a single thing they said was true? Even if they were to assume Sunstreak as being commanded by an individual by the name of a Villain known as Hawkmoth, what evidence did they have to suggest that these people were the good guys in any of this? Since Hawkmoth had not made a physical appearance, in, well, ever. How this group apparently knew of him was a mystery in of itself, and based on that, joining them to fight a person they knew nothing about was... Ludicrous.

And the next obvious issue was trust. They had no real reason to trust any of these people. There was nothing to suggest that these people wouldn't sell out Ladybug and Chat Noir the first chance that they got in order to cover their own backs if they were caught. They could only be looking for cannon fodder, and using the method of offering unity and camaraderie to get them to do their dirty work for them, in a battle that wasn’t theirs. And that was another thing.

They were being asked to fight in a battle that wasn't theirs to boot. While their Vigilantism was in itself becoming involved in battles that were not theirs to fight, it was very different. The key difference was that they wanted to help people where Heroes couldn't, while this was an organized assault against people they knew nothing about.

And yet, they trusted the two fresh-nosed Vigilantes with all this information. Fu and Shinuya even trusted them with their identities. Even their Traits. In this society, trusting an individual with your Trait was one of the most sacred acts of trust imaginable. It was sometimes even seen as an extension of your soul. Ladybug and Chat Noir lied about it to one another to protect their identities, and that was mostly because they didn't know each other very well... And even if they had known each other for years, they would most likely still hide their powers, to protect their identities should one of them be captured. If you know the Trait, you know the person. Sharing a Trait with someone else was the ultimate act of trust.

This had no clear answer.

And both of them knew this. They looked at one another, and knew, instantly, what the other was thinking.

"...Can we have some time to think about this?" Ladybug asked. This was a choice that required heavy thinking... And that aside, Ladybug had exams upcoming. So did Chat, although she didn't know that. Both of them needed to complete those before moving onto this sort of thing.

"As much time as you need." Master Fu nodded. "I would like to express my appreciation of you two both listening to what I had to say. You are welcome any time."

"What do you think, my Lady?"

Ignoring the pet name she seemed to have been bestowed with, Ladybug tapped her foot as she thought. The events of the night expanded in front of her mind, like a web of information and people. Such a large number of things had to be considered that she hadn't been prepared for, in not even her first week of being this Vigilante that she had chosen to become.

There just wasn't enough evidence to sway her one way or the other. She knew nothing about Hawkmoth aside from what she was told by his, admitted, enemies, and she didn't know any of the people in that group.

She didn't know what to think.

"I don't know, Chat Noir." She admitted with a sigh of frustration. "I didn't expect to have to deal with this sort of thing at this stage in being a Vigilante."

Understanding what she meant, Chat quickly Teleported - Or, Re-materialized - next to her and nodded. "Yeah, I know... I didn't think there were any other Vigilantes in Paris. I thought we were the only ones." It wasn't an unreasonable assumption to make. Despite the huge size of the city, there was next to no media coverage on anything even close to illegal Heroes. As far as the average citizen of the ancient European city was concerned, no Vigilantes even existed before Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up.

"You mean you thought I was the only one, and then you decided to tag along for the ride."

"Pretty much."

Ladybug couldn't help but chuckle at the brutal honesty Chat showed from time to time. The banter they had between each other, despite having such limited knowledge of one another, knowing one another only for a few days, seemed to be their already branded way to relieve the tension. It made her appreciate Chat being here, a person whom she would already consider to be one of her closest friends. It was impossible to fight Villains together, and nearly die together, without at least considering one another to be friends.

"Well, regardless, I trust your judgement here, LB." Chat said, which surprised Ladybug. She must have been obvious in her shock, because Chat went into further detail. "Hey, I thought you were the leader of our little duo here. You've certainly got the way with words and the attitude for it." While that was complimentary, his follow up comment certainly wasn't. "You're good at being bossy."

"I'll throw you off this rooftop, cat."

"Good at being sassy, too."

"Chat!"

"Scary, too."

At that point, Ladybug just sighed in amusement, reaching for her yo-yo. "Well either way, kitty cat, it's getting a bit late for me. I think I'm gonna head home... Sleep on this a bit."

"Awww, already? But we barely got to spend quality time together!"

"I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow, Chat. I need to sleep."

Letting out a depressed puff of air, Chat nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Same deal with me, to be honest. Tomorrow is gonna be... Hectic to say the least."

"Guess I'll see you soon?"

"Would you like an escort?"

"So you can find out where I live?"

"Worth a shot."

"Nice try." Ladybug smiled, before she threw her chosen piece of equipment and grappling hold of something sturdy somewhere in the distance. "I'll see you around, Chat!"

All Chat could do was weakly smile and wave as the most incredible girl he'd ever met dashed away at who knew what speeds. He'd known her, man, how long? Three, four days? And that had been all he'd needed to know that she was one of the most amazing people he'd ever met in his life. She was smart, brave, and freaking funny when she wanted to be. Just being around her made him glad he'd made the choice to be a Vigilante.

Underneath that mask was the most incredible person he'd ever meet. The person he admired the most in this world, far beyond any Hero. Behind that mask was the face of the person he longed to know, to understand, to be close to. He wanted to know who she was.

The temptation to follow her back home so he could learn where she lived was strong... But she had mentioned not wanting to reveal who she was, nor did she want to know who Chat was... And he'd chosen to respect that choice. He hated it, but he respected it.

And so he just watched the person whom had stolen his affections without even trying become a small dot in the night distance.

Maybe one day...

He sighed. "Guess I'd better get back home too." Muttered the cat-themed Vigilante, smiling softly to himself. Tomorrow marked a massive day for him. The first step to really becoming a Hero. All he had to do was pass the tests tomorrow, and he'd be on his way. He needed to get his sleep.

"Hold it!"

Once again, the familiar voice of a Japanese teenager caught Chat Noir by surprise, as he turned around once again to see Tasuka Shinuya stood behind him. Chat was beginning to wonder just how much Tasuka followed him around. It was getting creepy. "Shinuya?"

"Just came to apologize." Shinuya said, holding out his hand. Located in his palms, was a small radio chip, like an earpiece, which he offered to Chat Noir. "And to give you this. It's a communicator. Ever need our group's help, that'll get hold of us ASAP."

Accepting the piece of equipment, Chat raised an eyebrow. "Apologize? For what?"

"My little stunt I pulled yesterday."

"...I don't follow."

"Agreste." Shinuya sighed. "I know it's you under there."

Chat's eyes shot wide open at this.

"I told you about my Trait, didn't I? Trait Absorption. The longer I stay in contact with a person, the more likely it is that I can copy their Trait. I got a little taste of Destruction."

So that was how he knew... Chat gritted his teeth, and removed the mask, revealing himself to Shinuya. Adrien looked at the Japanese individual with a sense of defeat in his stomach. How had he?... "But... My Dual Trait..." If Shinuya copied Traits, how did he copy both of his?...

"Yeah, that was weird." Confessed Shinuya with shrugged shoulders. "I dunno what happened, but I only got your Destruction Trait. I think it only works with the last Trait you used at the point of contact, I didn't get Teleporting. As to why I'm apologizing... You were on our list of suspects due to the similarities between your Traits and Chat's claimed De-Materialization Trait. You were actually a lot lower on the list than you'd think, but I just happened to run into you, and I had an excuse to see if I could replicate your powers. I did... And here you are. So, sorry... My help had some strings attached."

Adrien sighed. "Unmasked and I've not even been doing this for a week. Some Hero I am."

"I told you, we all know everyone back with my group." Shinuya reassured the blond model. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. Secrets safe with me, buddy. We Vigilantes gotta back one another up."

"I appreciate it..." Adrien nodded, feeling somewhat trusting of Shinuya. A sly grin appeared on his face as he asked, "...I don't suppose you know who Ladybug is?"

"Haven't been able to copy her Trait. Can't even hazard a guess. Why?"

"No reason..."

"Uh huh... Good luck with the tests tomorrow." Shinuya offered, apparently aware of what it was that Adrien had to look forward to the next day, before he turned around to leave.

"Hold on a second." Adrien said, stopping the red haired boy from leaving. "Your group... Does it have a name? And... What about you? Do you have a code-name?" He asked out of simple curiosity, wanting just a little bit more information on the group he had just visited. He wanted to know, did the group have a name, and what name did Shinuya chose for himself?

"A name? Yeah, we have a name." Shinuya pointed to himself and smirked. "My code-name is Ripoff. And our group is The Traitors."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little brag, because I'm proud of this - Shinuya's Hero/Vigilante name is based on Copyright infringement. Whenever someone steals something, we refer to it as being a "Rip-Off" which is basically what Shinuya does. 
> 
> OC's WILL start swarming like flies in a few chapters time now guys. Be prepared.


	9. Hero Term Arc - The Tests Begin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first year final exams are here - And these are what decide if you get to keep pursuing being a Hero - Or if you're dropped by the wasteside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the second Arc - That's right, this story has arcs - Of the Superpowers AU! If you're in this far, then honestly, thank you SO much for staying with this. I'm loving writing this cause I get so much free liberty to write whatever I wanna write. It’s awesome! So thank y’all so much for being here! An arc in this story will usually be a minimum of five chapters, and the maximum is... Undecided. So, you guys can use that to help figure out what’s gonna be what, so - I hope you enjoy!

The air in the CFD School was tense, at least, it was for those who were within the Hero Course. Today was the day that everything they'd learned until this point would be put into motion, and everything that they knew how to do would be pushed to the absolute limit.

The Hero Course at the CFD was well known for being one of, if not the most brutally difficult ones in the country, second only to Oxford Hero Academy in the entire continent, making it one of the top academic courses for producing new, intelligent, and powerful Heroes. In order to keep up this impressive statistic, the final first years exam was naturally difficult. Being an easy test to pass defeated the entire point of the first year.

The CFD worked by weeding out the ones they knew had little to no potential for being a Hero during orientation. Those who had particularly weak Traits, the wrong attitude towards Heroics, or a variety of other reasons, were dropped. Sometimes, students who showed exceptional Heroism but had terribly weak Traits were permitted in, or those who had amazing, brutal powers were rejected due to arrogance. This was only a small portion of the numerous numbers of factors that were taken into account.

But this was only stage one of the screening.

Stage two involved seeing if any students were unable to handle the pressure that being a Hero took. To simulate this, the work load was high, and the difficulty was advanced. Some students were simply unable to meet deadlines, or fell to pieces under the weight of expectation. The students who were unable to do either always dropped out.

And finally, came stage three - The first year final exams. The students whom showed the most promise in the entire year were all given a standardized test, and a physical one. The results would indicate whom it was that would remain on the course. Little tricks, ideas for testing the students were thrown in, not that they were told.

At least in theory, anyway.

After that, all the hurdles had been jumped. Then began their real training. The CFD was tough to get into, but once you were in, and you passed the first year exams, they spared no expense, no time, and made no excuses when it came to training you. You had earned your place, proven your worth, and proven that you were serious, and capable, of being a Hero. And the CFD did everything in its power to prepare you for that. It was this philosophy that had led so many students to becoming great Heroes.

But this wasn't unknown to the students who were preparing for the tests right now. They had marched through those trials and tribulations, and come out on top. In a way, stages one and two were the easiest steps to get through. All you had to do was keep perseverance high and distractions low, and you could easily pass both of them with ease.

The issue was always the final exam. It was where dreams went to die.

"Okay, Adrien, relax..." The blond model told himself over and over again, taking in sharp inhales and exhales, trying to find a point in this routine he was going through at which he felt this was working. Nerves were a very common symptom of the exams, knowing the reputation that they held. While Adrien was confident in his abilities, in his Traits, he was fully aware confidence wouldn't carry him through this. He needed to be on his tip-top game today, or everything he'd worked so hard for would fall apart around him.

Looking around, he could see basically every other student was feeling the same way. Rose and Juleka were firing questions at one another, trying to get in some last minute brain exercises in and go over anything they'd missed. Mylene and Ivan were going over last minute revision, and Adrien would swear this was the first time he'd ever seen Ivan with a book. Lila seemed to prefer psyching herself up, doing a breathing routine similar to Adrien's. Just a small sample of the sorts of the methods people used to get ready for the toughest day of their lives so far.

Meanwhile, Marinette looked like she was about to fall asleep. Certainly not the ideal state to be in, Adrien thought to himself, although someone like Marinette could probably afford to be like that. For the written test, anyway. He wasn't sure about her combat skills, but knowledge wise, she was golden.

"Is uh... Is Marinette feeling okay?" Nino asked Alya, looking at the sleepy blue haired girl with a raised eyebrow, and a look of concern. The two of them spoke with their voices low, so the Conversion Trait user couldn't hear them, in her half asleep daze.

"I don't know, she's been like this for a few days." Alya whispered back. "She'll be like a total zombie in the morning, and then wide awake during the afternoon."

Was she staying up too late? Adrien didn't seem to have that problem when he was Chat Noir. Part of that was due to a few mutations that were a part of his biology that aided him in nocturnal adventures. Since the blue haired girl didn’t have that, she must have been staying up past her limit. Did Marinette stay up at night on a computer or something? Maybe she fell asleep while studying. He couldn't picture her wasting time on a video game or something like that. She was way too smart for that.

Speaking of Chat Noir, the memories of the previous night tumbled back into his thought process, reminding him of everything that had happened under the moonlight. Already, he was at risk of being outed as Chat Noir, if Shinuya proved he couldn't be trusted. He at least had leverage on the Vigilante by knowing his name, so they were on an even playing field. Not that it would do either side any good if one or the other acted first. At that point, it would just be a reveal out of petty revenge.

That wasn't the primary focus of his thoughts though. He wondered, who was this Hawkmoth person that Fu and Shinuya spoke of? What was the story behind him, and who could they trust? Vigilantism was a shaky thing to do, of that there no longer could be any doubt, even disregarding the legality of it. It was now like a political game, making sure you were allied with the right people, gave the right person the right information, and knew what risks to take. As it stood, they were in a lot of danger.

He and Ladybug had to be careful. They had no idea what sort of world they were getting themselves into. One wrong step…

Quickly, he shook his head. He couldn't think like that.

Particularly not with someone like Sabrina in the room. Luckily, she hadn't made line of sight with him, so he was okay.

At that exact moment, the doors flung open. Everything stopped, and three teachers walked into the room, full of now dead silent students, whom watched every single movement. Following them were a number of the regular faculty, but barely anyone paid them any attention. Compared to the first three, they were like ants.

These teachers were different to the ones they normally had, who taught academics, General Studies, or any other subject at the school. These were people who knew fully what being a Hero entailed. These people knew what they were talking about.

Because each one of these teachers had been - Or rather, still were - Heroes.

"Good morning students!" One teacher introduced the class, with a more energetic tone to his voice than most of the students seemed to have. He wore mostly black clothing, except down the centre of his jacket came a giant white cross that went from both of his shoulders, and around in a diagonal manner. Along the short part of his arms that could be seen, was a long black line that ran along with his bones positioning, and seemed to have a few cuts around it. He kept his hair in a black Mohawk, and was relatively young for a Hero. He looked like he'd just got back from a rock concert, and seemed to possess the mentality needed to dive into a mosh pit. "So, you're our batch of trainees for the day?" He asked, scanning around the room, inspecting each one of the students. "Excellent! My Hero name is Crosscut, and my real name is totally irrelevant! All you need to know is we're here to make sure this examination goes by without a hitch!"

"This guy..." Nino muttered to Adrien, a pained expression on his face.

"He doesn't fit the situation at all." Marinette finished, now seeming to have snapped back into reality.

Crosscut was acting like he was at a sports day lecturing the kids about team spirit. He didn't sound like a person who was about to inspect the finest students in the entire country to see if they were worthy of actually being Heroes and getting to follow their dreams, or if they were just going to be crushed beyond all repair. Not a single person shared his enthusiasm. Even Miss Bustier and Ms. Mendeleiev looked beyond exasperated with his eccentric personality.

"Change the tone, Crosscut." A second Hero commented, this one, a Hero Adrien recognized. Fuel Tank. His father often did work for the Hero, so Adrien knew him fairly well. Fuel Tank was a Hero who was stocky and well built. His skin was darker than most people's, due to his Trait - Oil - It allowed him to secrete a special type of flammable liquid called Petrolia Olenous. Highly dangerous too, but heavily viscus when needed. "Okay kids, listen up. Your exams are about to start. Each of you needs to go to a separate desk, and wait quietly for the written paper to be handed to you."

This was a more down to earth person that the students were a lot more responsive too. After giving each other a set of concerned, 'Try your best and good luck' glances, the students dispersed, scattering out to fill in the empty desks. Each desk was about a meter away from every other desk in a radius around the other, making leaning over someone else's shoulders to copy their answers near impossible. Irritatingly, Sabrina and Chloe were at the back of the classrooms, possibly an intentional choice they had planned upon, whereas Adrien, Marinette, and Nino found themselves up at the front. Perfect positions to select their targets.

Tatiana Salcedo, the final teacher up at the front, passed out all the sheets of paper at once, using her Trait to give everyone a test paper at once. Her Trait was called Plant, which gave her a more plant-like biology, allowing her to extend her limbs, which became more vine-like in appearance when stretched, looking more like the root of a beanstalk, turning green and covered in roots. She could also control plant-life around her to a limited degree. Latino in ethnicity, she was rather voluptuous in figure, and venomous in combat, by all accounts. Her Trait proved useful in this scenario, at any rate. Additionally, without even asking the students, she took any water bottles, or other pieces of equipment that she could get her vines on. She then quickly replaced this equipment with replicas from the supplies brought in by the teachers, done so that no student could have answers written on their equipment.

"Okay, listen up, kids, here’s how this is gonna go down." Fuel Tank spoke up, standing right at the front of the room, where all eyes could be clearly seen upon him. He produced a clock from underneath the desk he was stood behind, and placed it firmly and clearly in the centre of the desk. Each student took a long, hard look at the clock, knowing that this was going to be their main method of judging how much time would be left for them to pass their exam. This was going to be reassuring to some, and a panic inducing hell for others.

"This clock is going to be set for one and a half hours." An average time for a standardized test. "You're going to have until that time is completed to answer every question that you possibly can in this test paper. Keep your eyes on your own test papers, and don't dick around."

"Additionally, anyone caught using any methods to cheat on this test will result in a harsh penalty. This includes Traits." Ms. Mendeleiev snapped in ahead of the professional Hero.

"Thank you for reminding me, Miss." Fuel Tank nodded in appreciation, before turning back to the awaiting students. "That's right, anyone stupid enough to get caught cheating will receive serious back-lash, so do yourselves a favour, and don't be an idiot."

Very basic rules for this sort of test. Adrien looked at the test paper. It looked like the average test he took during his annual education years, the same ones his tutors back home had dumped on him every few months without warning to make sure all the information was processed and ingrained into his brain. He found it very peculiar that this was the sort of thing that the Hero course was going to test its students upon.

"Any questions?" None. "This will count for up to fifty percent of your final grade. Score a perfect fifty on the physical, and you'd need about thirty here to pass."

Seventy points out of one-hundred in total wasn't a particularly large margin for error. It was a trial by fire, by all accounts. The best of the best won the places, that really was all there was to this. All over the room, people looked towards their friends, the people they had spent so long together with, the people whom had made the first year tolerable. Now they had to leave one another in the dust in order to carry on learning about their dreams.

This one was a free for all.

"Begin."

Total silence descended in the testing hall, with the exception of fifteen pages turning all at once.

Quickly skimming over the first question, Marinette raised her eyebrows and her jaw dropped at the sheer difficulty of the question. 'If an individual possesses an Aerokinetic Trait that permits them the use of winds of up to two-hundred MPH, what is their best method of attacking a Villain whom possesses an Electric Type ability in a crowded civilian area?'

Battle theory? That wasn't what they had studied for!

Not to say that Marinette didn't know the answer to the question, but she found it odd that this was even on the test paper - Scratch that, this was the first question? Out of curiosity, the skimmed throughout the rest of the questions, looking at what exactly she was expected to complete.

The list shocked her.

Not only was Battle Theory something that was thrown in this, there was questions retaining to Hostage Scenarios, Rescue Operations, Combat Efficiency and to top it all off, Ethics of Heroism! It wasn't that these questions were unanswerable, in fact, the majority of students in the room with her would probably be able to answer them if they put their minds to it. Many of them had studied a lot of these, but not to this detailed level. It was possible…... But they were expecting some serious work to be put into this test.

Aerokinesis translated to Wind Manipulation. It was a fairly rare Trait in that while it had a variety of unique forms, was universally quite a dangerous ability. Perhaps more so than the average Pyrokinetic. With winds at up to Two-Hundred miles an hour, speeds capable of sending a grounded passenger plane into the sky, any sort of combat, regardless of what the opponents type of Trait was, was a practical impossibility. The question relied on the potential that the user of the Aerokinetic Trait had of slowing of speeding up the wind currents around them, and what forms they could take. Was their ability the power to simply increase wind speeds, or could they create gusts of wind from their bodies? Could they generate tornadoes? What, in a nutshell, were the specifics of this Trait? Without that information, these questions were impossible to answer.

Did they expect them to consider all the possibilities? Or was there some sort of hidden meaning behind the question? Or was it a trick of some sort?

What the hell was this first question?

"...Assuming that the Trait belonging to the person is simply the power to increase the wind currents around them..." Marinette considered, muttering quietly to herself, going through the various possibilities and circumstances needed to understand this questions limitations.

Going full gale force on the opposing Villain would be disastrous, considering in a rural area, this would cause unprecedented damage to civilian homes and businesses. That level of wind was easily capable of tearing an entire district to pieces.

As Marinette ran through these calculations, Sabrina was able to make her move. A nod from Chloe, telling her to go ahead, was all she needed to go through with the plan.

Sabrina Raincomprix - Trait - Mind Reader - Sabrina is capable of reading the thoughts of any person she is able to make line of sight with. This does not work if there is an object in the way of them however, such as a pane of glass. Additionally, Sabrina cannot read into the memories of an individual, limited to being able to read their thoughts at the current time.

' _The best solution is to draw out the Villain from rural areas via using the Wind Manipulation powers to blow them away to a more secluded area, and then hammer them with constant blasts of harsh wind energy!_ ' Marinette thought to herself, scribbling her working out and answer down in the boxes provided, unaware that her thoughts were being read as she wrote as quickly as she could. That answer had taken up way too much of her time already.

Utilizing her power, Sabrina began writing the answer down quickly in not one, but two test papers. One of those test papers belonged to Chloe, tossed at the orange haired girl before the timer had begun. Chloe would receive the finished paper once the paper was finished. Abusive as it was, that was the extent of the relationship they shared. With Sabrina's Trait, she could easily copy every answer that she needed from everyone in the room. No one would even know that she was cheating. Her Trait was like it was designed to take full advantage of this sort of environment and test.

Adrien, meanwhile, chuckled to himself.

He had no idea what it was he was doing. These questions were far beyond his range of understanding.

The thing about it was, he wasn't the only person who was having a difficult time understanding these questions, and even more struggled equally in trying to answer the questions in their entirety.

It was like the test was designed to make students...

Cheat.

Once that thought entered Adrien's head, he couldn't shake the idea from his thoughts. That couldn't be right, could it? He shot a glance to the right out of the corner of his eyes, and saw Marinette scribbling away. She was able to answer all of this, so, theoretically, shouldn't he also be able to?... No, to compare himself to Marinette was something he wasn't able to do. She was like an information machine, intelligent and efficient.

Intelligent... and information...

Information...

What was a Hero without the ability to gather information? A Hero rushing in blind was about as good as a civilian charging into a battle without thinking about their actions first. Heroes had the responsibility to protect and defend the average person around them, and information was power. Even when placed in danger, analysis, and the ability to gather information was essential.

Was that was this was testing?

The ability to gather information?

Don't let us catch you cheating. That was what Fuel Tank had said. He'd never said _not_ to cheat. He'd just said to avoid being caught. That had to be an intentional choice of words, didn't it? Had they wanted no one to cheat, they would have stated not to cheat. They instead stated to not get caught cheating, meaning it would theoretically be allowed. If that was the case, then these prying eyes, making sure that no one was caught cheating, were there to represent the ever present eyes of Villains whom would be watching a Heroes every single move when in combat.

Was that all that this was? To test how well one could gather information under immense pressure?

Adrien gritted his teeth as he thought about this. His Trait was basically worthless for gathering information. Whenever he Teleported, he left a large puff of smoke from his previous location, and the location that he resurfaced at, and even if he didn't, the teachers would notice his absent in about five seconds.

But that couldn't be the only thing that was being taken into consideration, could it? There were plenty of Heroes that were purely combat orientated... Not every Trait had the ability to gather information or analyse a situation for optimal results. Given how random Traits were, it just wasn't viable. The CFD was harsh, but it was fair. Students who couldn’t physically use their powers to gather information weren’t just thrown out the door.

There was more to this sort of examination. There had to be.

For now, it wasn't like Adrien had much other choice. He scribbled what he could down onto the test, hoping to maybe scrape one or two points down. He wasn't unintelligent, by any stretch of the imagination. His Trait and mind however, were simply far more practically orientated.

Someone like Alya had a Trait that was amazing for both of these. Her Trait allowed her to manipulate internet wavelengths, and fire them off at high pressures. It also allowed her to scan the internet sites in her mind, no doubt she was doing this as Adrien thought about it.

Meanwhile, Adrien was more suited to a fight. His Traits were a deadly combination, and in combat, he was a tough adversary to take down, already having fought, and defeated, Terawatt before even a student at the CFD, and helped Ladybug taking out Sunstreak. Asking him to take a test after that, especially on this heavily complicated stuff that he'd barely even been taught, was neigh on asking for a bad mark.

Marinette was by far more suited to her role as someone who relied on intelligence and smart planning, although, Adrien knew, deep down, she could be a vicious warrior if she needed to be. Her power was so great for that, he wouldn't ever want to end up on her bad side.

Her superpower could easily surpass both of his. He was certain of this.

* * *

 

"Your time is up." Fuel Tank declared, his voice shattering the silence that the room held just seconds previously. Each of the students looked up at him, and the clock on the desk in front of him. The time had passed very quickly for the students, some feeling like they had only been in the room for maybe ten minutes. "Put down all your equipment and change into your gym clothes for the practical assessment."

The clattering of pencils, groans, and worried looks and grunts of frustration were like a symphony as each student reluctantly placed down their equipment. There was a great sense of unease with every student in the classroom, each fearing massively on their performance. Those who had Traits that allowed them to cheat had done so, gathering what information they had been able to.

Was it ethical for a student to cheat on a test, particularly if they were aiming to become Heroes? The vast majority had reached the same conclusion Adrien had done, but still felt like scumbags for doing so. It was an ethical minefield, one no student really wanted to tread.

Despite his own worries, self-assessment wise, Adrien felt like he'd done a reasonable job. All he felt that he had to do now was crush to practical and he'd be fine. Though since he needed 70 points out of 100 to get into the meat of Heroics, he'd need to score a perfect 50 if his chances were gonna be any good. He was fortunate that he was built for such an event. He let out a loud sigh.

"You okay?" Nino asked his friend, stopping by his friend's desk, waiting for him to get ready to go. The rest of the students had filtered out of the exam room, and were now headed to the changing rooms, leaving the two in relative seclusion.

"You figure it out?" Adrien asked, standing up and shoving his chair underneath his desk.

"About the cheating thing?" Nino raised his eyebrows as he asked, and then sighed. "Yeah. I couldn't do anything though man. My powers were useless for it."

"The same with mine... But I think there's something else going on." The Dual Trait user admitted, folding his arms up and puffing his right cheek out. "I mean... Think about it. Why are there two sets of exams, especially if the first one is meant to test how well you can figure out a way to cheat and gather information?"

"For Information gathering and Combat ability, right?"

"That's what they're saying... But it's gotta be more than that. If they wanted us to cheat here... There must be something we're not considering for the physical."

Nino understood the logic his friend was using, and it made a lot of sense when he thought about it. The CFD seemed to enjoy using trickery and ulterior motives whenever they gave an assessment regarding anything they had done, to test their perception and metal. If the school wanted students to cheat on the first test, it wasn't outside the realms of possibility that there was a second set of conditions that they had to meet for the physical exam. "I hope you're right. I don't think I did too well on this exam."

The two of them began to head over to the changing rooms, following the rest of their classmates, quiet muttering conversations aplenty between the students, so as not to disturb any of the other classes. The muttering was all relatively the same, with a sense of defeatism and worry overarching everyone's thoughts.

As the two boys caught up to the rest of their group, they encountered Alya and Mylene, both lagging a bit behind the rest of the students, having a discussion about the examination, Mylene sounding incredibly nervous about the upcoming physical test.

"Hey, Alya." Nino called over a tiny bit louder than anyone else was talking, and giving her a small wave to get her attention. Once in whispering range, he questioned, "How'd you do back there?"

The tanned skinned girl's eyes flashed Magenta for a brief second, a visual effect of her Broadband Trait, and nodded. "Not too bad, I don't think. I managed to answer all the questions at least. Looking forward to the physical, you two?"

Adrien slammed his right fist into his left palm, his first turning charcoal black as he did so as his Trait activated, and nodded. "I don't know how well I did in the written test, but the physical is mine." His nervousness was masked with confidence and bravado. Truth be told, he wasn't sure about the exams regulations anymore. He didn't know what sort of scoring parameter he could trust, or if he could even trust the instructions given to him. Or was he overthinking things? Such thoughts were leading him into a spiral of confusion, and uncertainty.

But he was confident that, if he was going to pass this test, he needed to ace the physical. And if there was something he was good at doing, it was breaking things.

"You're lucky, being so sure of yourself..." Mylene spoke up, the sheer levels of anxiety now clear in her voice. She was nervous by default, and a very gentle sort of soul. After having known his classmates for close to a year, he had a fairly good idea on the various personalities of everyone in his class. He knew Mylene was someone who was often plagued by self-doubt, nervousness, and a lack of confidence, despite being as sweet as sugar in spite of that.

Alya patted her shorter friend on her shoulder to try and comfort her. She gave her friend a small smile. "Don't worry, Mylene. You're gonna be awesome out there."

"I don't think my power is going to help me though..."

"Your power is wicked though!" Nino punched the air in front of him to punctuate the point. "If you get close to someone, they go flying! I don't get why you're so nervous."

"It doesn't help if I'm too scared to get anywhere near an opponent..." Mylene said, admitting to her fearful nature with disgust and distaste, ashamed of her own personality quirks. She knew that she wasn't the bravest person here, the bravest having to be Adrien. In fact, she knew she was the least brave person in their class. How she was going to pass a physical test like that, she had no idea.

But despite that, her Trait was actually heavily suited for a physical test.

Mylene Haprele - Trait - Push - Mylene is able to send a huge amount of kinetic energy, which stores up in her biceps and forearms, and transfer it to any object that she 'Shoves' away. It is estimated that her Trait is capable of pushing at strength levels so high she could theoretically shove an entire house to pieces should she desire to. However, excessive use of this Trait will result in her bones wearing down, and becoming fractured or broken.

She wasn't stating an incorrect fact. If she wasn't close to her opponents, then her Trait wasn't a whole lot of use, unless she was able to be creative with her surroundings. It was easy to understand that she would be insecure about her abilities regarding a physical test, with that knowledge.

"...Being scared... That's what you're here to learn to overcome, right?" Adrien asked, catching Mylene's attention. "A Hero has to learn to overcome fear. And to make the people around them feel safe. That's why you want to be a Hero, right? To get braver?"

Admitting to her reasons for wanting to become a Hero was humiliating to Mylene. She felt they were so selfish, so inclusive to herself... That it defeating the entire essence of being a Hero. She nodded sadly, ashamed of her weak reasons for wanting to be here, next to people who truly wanted to help others out of pure altruism.

"Is there anything wrong with that, dude?" Nino asked, almost getting defensive. He was well aware of Adrien's reasons for Heroism, but the way Adrien had said what he had done, he almost sounded like he was judging the poor girl.

"Nah." Adrien shook his head with a smile. "I actually think that it's pretty brave."

* * *

 

The CFD had a huge, sprawling amount of space on its campus, like a city within a city. There was a huge amount of space, roughly maybe twenty miles of it, all designed and planned to test the true strength and character of a student aiming to enter the world of Traits, be it as a Hero, an officer, a solider, or anything in-between. The sheer scale of the school was enormous in of itself, never mind the trials that would be implemented within this sprawling land.

The test today would take place in what the students had come to call the "Frenzy Forest". It was a rectangular lane of trees that spanned ten miles of the free space of the CFD, that was used for freestyle combat practice. The Elite and Valour courses had used it hundreds of times, which had caused some incredible battle scars to be left on the forest. The battle became hectic and high paced, hence the name 'Frenzy Forest'. This would mark the first time that the Hero course had used it.

All students in the Hero course were now in their gym attire, which was an amalgamation of loose fitting clothing, not in uniform in any sort of fashion. France's non-uniform policy extended to gym clothes, leaving the students to choose their outfits. The vast majority of the students had chosen practical, light fitting, loose, that allowed for ease of movement, and comfort as well. Additionally, students were allowed to make some very minor, very limited changes to the clothing, to help them better use their abilities.

Marinette, for example, wore a purely white t-shirt, with the exception of a flower pattern along her chest, similarly to that of her normal shirt, except this one had a small secret, with a set of running shorts, both of which she had made herself to suit the requirements her body would be subjected to for prolonged periods of physical activity. She had designed for them to be firmly close to the skin, yet comfortable and provisional for movement. It also freed up plenty of space for her to user her Trait, as the clothes had small elements of various different materials within it, a choice that she had run by the school admission board, and received no resistance to her decision. The majority of said material was store in the flower of her shirt.

Confident in what she had answered for the written exam, her experiences as Ladybug would help her here a lot, she was sure. Her Trait was more diverse than she had ever really thought herself, and she was now more confident than she ever had been when it came to combat. Despite this, she brought her hands together, like she was praying, and took in several deep breaths to help calm the nerves that came with any exam passed her way. A method of meditation she had learned from her mother, whom suggested it before she had set out that day. A way to calm herself down. To recover her thoughts and feelings before she went to tackle the next obstacle before her.

The looks on her Maman's and Papa's faces when she told them that she had been accepted into the CFD was something that she still remembered clear as day, even though it had been over a year ago, and she had been so overburdened with work and assignments since, that she barely remembered anything that had happened since last year, except for the faces of pure pride and joy her parents had when she told them she would be attending the most prestigious school in all of France. How proud they had been of her, and how shocked they were to find out that she would be studying Heroics, as opposed to Design. They had supported her through and through though, never giving her any doubts that they were ever doubting her at all. They always had total confidence in her.

She couldn't even begin to image the looks they would have if she went back today and told them she had failed the tests and gotten kicked out of the school. It didn't even bear thinking about.

This was just as much for them as it was for Marinette.

"Okay, listen up." Fuel Tank seemed to have chosen himself as the public speaker from the chosen Heroes to hold the tests, and the students responded as such, forming a semi-circle around him, so they could see his face clearly. "We're about to begin the Practical examination. First order of business is going to be selecting groups."

"Groups?" Kim's voice rose up from the crowd, vocalizing his surprise at that sentiment.

"That's right." Tatiana Salcedo responded, in her hands, a box with a list of names was located. Extending her plant-like arms, she placed the box on the floor, in the centre of the semi-circle. As she spoke, her Latino accent shone through, further highlighting her ethnicity. "This test will have you all assessed in groups. We recognize that some of your Traits are not suited to combat in lone scenarios, which is fortunate for you, because information type Heroes rarely work alone. To help you combat this, you'll be set up into groups of three or four. You'll still be assessed individually, but this set up is designed to allow you all to use your Traits to their fullest."

"So, we're choosing our groups?" Alix asked this time.

"Nope!" Tatiana responded, actually with a cheerful expression. "Information Type Traits rarely work alone - That doesn't mean they get a good match up. Remember, even Information type Traits usually have some battle practicality. Just be careful about how you use your powers, and you'll do just fine!"

While it made sense, it didn't help the students feel less uneasy.

"Your goal for this task is fairly simple." Fuel Tank continued, reacquiring the attention of the examiners. "You and your group will be tasked with traversing the miles of this forest, and making it to the other side. Inside the forest will be a number of obstacles that you will need to face in order to progress. We will be able to monitor your progress from these obstacles, so nothing you do will escape us. You're going to be marked on time taken, combat efficiency, skills in a group, and your ability to adapt and overcome, as judged by us. Additionally, this is going to be a race against your classmates. The further back you place, the less points you acquire. If you so desire, you can also attack other groups. Responding to an ambush, and being able to set an ambush, are two very valued skills in this line of business."

Simple enough a concept.

But everyone noted that he hadn't actually mentioned what obstacles they would be facing. No one brought it up either, because they all knew that deep down, there wasn't going to be a chance that Fuel Tank would tell them.

"No questions?" Nothing. "Okay then, Titaiana, select the groups if you would."

"Happily!" The Plant Trait user used her plant-like arms to grab a handful of slips of papers with names scribbled onto them, and brought them back so her eyes would be able to see the writing. She quickly scanned through the names before calling out the students. "Group A... The first member is Ivan Bruel."

Ivan slammed his fists together, and nodded his acknowledgement of his name being called. He took a step forward, so his group would be able to see where he was.

"Next we have... Adrien Agreste."

Teleporting right next to the large, bulky teammate he had been assigned, Adrien smiled, and held out a hand for Ivan to shake. "All right! Let's win this thing!"

His handshake wasn't reciprocated. Ivan just looked away, which annoyed Adrien just a tad. He let it go quickly though, marking it down to nerves that Ivan was dealing with. Ivan wasn’t an unfriendly sort of person. He just liked being left to his own devices a lot of the time.

"Next... Mylene Haprele."

In response to this name being called out, Ivan's face seemed to brighten up from the scowl he had worn since being first called out, and his lips tugged at the sides, forming what could charitably be considered a smile. Mylene quickly and quietly made her way to join her newly assigned group, hoping that she would be able to contribute... Anything to their team that she could.

"And the final member is... Marinette Dupain Cheng." Titiana assessed, carelessly throwing the notes over her shoulder, already reaching for more notes before Marinette could join her group.

"Hrmp!" Chloe's loud huff could be heard as Marinette made her way towards her group. "Just your luck to get put into Adrien's group." Clearly bitter, she spat her words as the Conversion Trait user, not even attempting to hide her malice towards the blue haired girl, not that she ever tried to hide it anyway.

Choosing to ignore her comments, Marinette kept walking towards Adrien, Ivan and Mylene. Chloe wasn't worth the time it would take to shoot her off her high horse.

"Just make sure you don't make Adrien fail, Dupain Cheng! We all know you're a liability, anyway!"

She wasn't worth it, Marinette told herself, not letting the insult get to her. Marinette knew her powers better than Chloe knew them. She knew that her Trait could be useful. She had the understanding and the capability to help her group to pass this exam.

She wasn't a liability.

She was an asset.

She listened as the groups were called out further. Group B was Nino, Alya, Rose and Juleka. Group C was Kim, Alix, Lila and Nathaniel. And group D was Chloe, Sabrina and Max, being the smallest due to the uneven number of students the course had. Of all the groups, she thought that the one that was the most even in terms of abilities was probably group C, since they had a wide variety of Traits and skills.

After hearing all the information, the groups were given a starting point that they all located to. Group A's was smack in the centre, meaning they had the most cover, but were subsequently more likely to get lost. The starting elections had also been randomized, since Heroes didn't get to choose their environment in most cases. Each starting area had pros and cons to it, so it wasn't a terrible thing.

"Maybe before we start, we should explain our Traits to each other a bit more?" Marinette suggested to her group. "If we're going to work together, it's important that we know what we can all do, so we can make plans if we get attacked."

"Smart thinking." Adrien agreed, which in turn, made Marinette blush. Mylene nodded, and while Ivan didn't look particularly interested, a prompting from Mylene convinced him otherwise. They had a few minutes to explain to one another before the test began, so they decided to do this quickly. "I'll go first then. You probably know about my condition. I have a Dual Trait. One of my powers is the ability to Teleport. My limit is about two or three miles by myself, but only if I know where I'm going. I can Teleport other people, but depending on weight and numbers, it can lower my range, and make me a lot more exhausted. My other power is Destruction. My hands turn charcoal black, and everything I touch turns into ashes, so try not to bump into me if I activate that power." He shuddered for a second, before continuing. "If I use it too much, then my skin starts to rot away, leaving muscle tissue exposed."

"I can duplicate atoms." Marinette decided to go second. "I can create enough of them very quickly to create a solid object of anything I want, as long as I'm touching a material of the same type. So, I can make steel if I'm touching steel, but I can make Carbon, Iron and other elements, as long as there’s just one corresponding atom in it. If I work really hard, I can change some elements, but I'm not all that good at it. I just need a small bit of a material in order to create it."

"My - My Trait is Push." Mylene stuttered. "I can transfer kinetic energy from my arms into objects and push them away. I can push down one of those trees pretty easily if I wanted to, but if I use it too much, I can injure my arms."

"Be careful with your power, okay?" Ivan said, in a far more softly spoken voice than normal. The tenderness his voice held didn't go unnoticed by anyone else in the group, not even himself.

"Ivan." Adrien said. "Your powers? What can you do?"

Marinette could have sworn she saw a blush appear on the teenager who tried to act tough. He shook his head and refocused. With an open palm, he slammed his hand onto the ground, and as he did so, a large chuck of earth shot out just a few meters away from the group. "I can do that."

Ivan Bruel - Trait - Terrakinesis - Ivan is able to manipulate, move, alter, shape and attack with earth substances, such as dirt, and solid rock. He is capable to doing this on a fairly large scale. However, he is only able to move up to roughly three tons of earth at any one time. He also cannot create anything unless there is an earth-like substance around him. Excessive damage to him can also leave him unable to use his powers.

Adrien grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen your Trait before. Nice!"

Ivan allowed himself a small smile, as he nodded. "Thanks."

"We actually have a nice selection of abilities here then..." Marinette said aloud, thinking about a way to utilize all of them at once. "We're pretty well rounded when it comes to defence thanks to my Trait and Ivan's. Adrien has speed and offensive capability, and Mylene, your power is a very good combat power as well..."

"Already taking up the leadership position?" Adrien joked with a soft smile, that didn't fail to make Marinette blush, in both embarrassment that she was getting ahead of herself, and that his smile was so damn adorable she could barely contain it, despite this horribly stressful situation. Adrien saw this and laughed. "Relax. I trust you. You'd be a pretty good leader, out of all of us."

She didn't have the time to respond to the compliment before they all heard the buzzers.

The Physical test had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't notice the comparison to Naruto that this all had until it was already written. It was honestly a coincidence ^_^'


	10. Heroes Are Heroes Because...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Physical test underway, the groups soon discover they aren't alone in Frenzy Forest...

"I still don't get it. Why don't you just draw us a helicopter or battleship or something and then fly us outta here?" Kim questioned the Sketch Trait user for roughly the third time, still not exactly understanding the young artists answer.

"Oh, I didn't know you knew how to operate a military helicopter, Kim." Alix responded with humoured sarcasm at her tall teammate's question, talking like it was the easiest thing in the world to create an aerial vehicle out of nothing. She had a better understanding of Nathaniel's Trait than Kim had, since she had actually been listening to the answers given by him. Kim ignored this comment, still waiting for the shy red haired boy to reply to him.

"I - I told you, that isn't how my Trait works..." Nathaniel answered hesitantly, rubbing his left arm with his right hand, a habit he had when he indulged whenever he nervous or anxious. "I'd, I'd need more time to draw something like that... And uh, I uh, I don't know how one works... I'd need to draw all the mechanics... And I don't know how that works..." Without knowing, and subsequently drawing, every single working aspect of a helicopter, or any vehicle like that, then while he could create the shell of one, it would not work whatsoever.

"Maybe if you paid some more attention to the answers he gives you." Lila commented, some venom clear in her voice, only further amplified by her obvious exasperation for Kim's constant questioning of their teammate. Over half an hour had passed since they had begun the Physical examination, and they were very slowly making progress. Very slowly. She was concerned that their group would not be able to pass if they didn't pick up the pace.

"Relax." Kim dismissed, aware of Lila's concerns. He glanced around at his teammates, all sharing the same worried expressions. As the self-appointed leader, he decided to try and motivate his team. "We're making good progress, aren't we?"

"For a sloth, perhaps." Alix commented, her head snapping to various different objects of interest that caught her eye. "If we keep going at this speed, we'll take another five and a half hours to actually get anywhere. And by that point, we'll be in last place by about three hours, if I know our classmates."

"What makes you so - " Kim's sentence was cut short by a Alix suddenly appearing right in front of his, and a gust of wind blowing against his skin. She had moved like a pink and white blur, and after image barely having moved when she reappeared.

"Take it from a person who could have gotten there and back here about ten times now, meathead." Alix prodded Kim's chest, before she skidded back to where she was previously. Irritated, she tapped her foot on the ground, eager to actually start making some viable progress. If she weren't hampered by the teammates she had, she could have easily made the distance and passed the Physical Examination in a few minutes at worst.

Alix Kubdel - Trait - High Speed - Alix's Trait allows her to move, think, and react at the speed of sound. She can activate this power at will, allowing her to switch between moving at speeds like a normal human, and moving at her highest speeds. She has trouble utilizing this Trait in cluttered locations, and also when not touching the ground, her power is useless. She also cannot transport anyone along with her without causing them some serious damage. Running into walls at this speed will cause her a great deal of damage, and debris can still hit her in the eyes when using this Trait if precautions are not taken.

Lila sighed, bored of the current conversation. "Kim, can't you just burn down a path for us?"

"Ooh, subtle." Alix commented with her usual levels of sarcasm. "Maybe next we can have Nathaniel draw the Eiffel tower and set up a huge beacon letting everyone know where we are so they can ambush us a bit easier.” Though she had not intended for it to be so, it had come across far harsher than intended.

"It'd be too dangerous to use my powers to clear a path for us, especially for you guys." Kim told Lila, allowing a tiny amount of the red-hot liquid he could secrete from his body to drip from his hands, burning into the ground behind him as he walked. He made the droplets as small as he could, so as not to set fire the surrounding flora.

Le Chien Kim - Trait - Lava - Kim is able to secrete red-hot liquid lava from any location in his body. His body is mostly immune to the effects of this ability, allowing him to hold, store up, and cover himself in lava. He is also highly resistant to the effects of fire, but he cannot control this aspect of his Trait. Any fire that his Trait creates will act independently of his will. He also cannot control the lava he secretes, having to throw it at his opponents, and hope that it will hit its target, forcing him to rely on accuracy and skill. Overusing his ability for too long will result in him becoming burned.

"It was just a suggestion." Lila muttered through clenched teeth. The Italian girl had not taken the sheer levels of blunt sarcasm well, taking it instead as a personal insult to her intelligence. Her offense was understandable, enough that Kim and Nathaniel gave Alix an odd look each, one that Alix would have given herself if at all possible.

"Sorry." The High Speed Trait user apologized. "That came out a lot harsher than I meant for it to." She looked over to Lila, whom was looking off in the opposite direction to her now, refusing to look at the pink haired girl. "My bad, okay?"

"Whatever." Lila dismissed the apology altogether, making it very clear she neither accepted, nor was interested in discussing the matter further, a response that irritated Alix. For someone with the same tomboyish sense of pride Alix had, this was just as much of an insult.

"Maybe, maybe we should all just, you know, uh, calm down, or uh... I don't know, relax or something..." Nathaniel spoke up nervously, trying to calm the tension brewing between his teammates. "We - We've got to work together, don't we? So let's just take a - Take a breath, okay?"

Before any of his teammates could respond to his statement, the silent air around them suddenly became shattered, as a low growling noise and the sounds of snapping twigs. The noises, inhumane in their nature, already outlining any sort of possibility of what was surrounding them being their classmates, attempting to set up a botched ambush.

Suddenly, the group of four jumped back-to-back, covering each compass direction, trying to scan for whatever hostiles were in their immediate vicinity with them. They all scanned each tree trunk, each tree top, each bush and each dirt mound, looking for even a glimpse of what was around them. Kim prepared two handfuls of his secreted liquid, ready to throw at whatever came out of the lush greenery. It dripped around his feet, but he didn't care.

The growling noises grew louder, and there appeared to be more of them.

"Uh... Guys?" Nathaniel asked quietly, so quiet that he risked not even being heard. Only due to his close proximity to his teammates did they pick up on him speaking. "This forest... There's usually a force field around it so students can't get in, right?"

This was accurate. From their very first day here, it had been very firmly established that entry to the location was forbidden, for what the school classed as safety reasons. A highly technologically advanced set up surrounded the Frenzy Forest, and anyone who touched it received a violent electrical shock. Many people stayed away from the large premises due to it.

"Yeah... What point are you tryin' to make?" Alix asked, her eyes darting to the location of another twig snapping in her general direction. Her High Speed Trait would allow her to dash in and check what they were working with, were she not intimidated herself as to what was currently surrounding them.

"Were they trying to keep us out..."

As Nathaniel expressed his theory, a large lumbering figure finally crawled out from the dark forest around them, revealing a horrifying mutated husk of a creature. The body of this dark black coloured created was akin to that of a gorilla, while its head resembled that of a cobra, and a large frill customized its neck, expanding and showing off the blood red pattern upon it, scattered randomly like cracks of blood. Within the creature's mouth, it bore a set of snake-like fangs, all coloured maroon, with green saliva dripping from each tooth. Eyes dark red, and face scaly, it looked like a grotesque experiment straight out of a comic book.

It was an Akuma.

Before long, the other various Akuma began to crawl out from the woodworks, each of them looking like deadly, mutated animals, all hideous and terrifying beyond all human comprehension. Beyond Primal comprehension. Beyond even Abnormal comprehension.

"...Or were they trying to keep those in here?..." Nathaniel's voice became an even quieter whisper, now not even heard by Alix, stood right next to him.

A roar was heard.

And then screams were.

* * *

 

"Raaaaaaargh!" Adrien threw his open-palmed Destructive hand in the manner of a right hook, and smacking an ostrich-like Akuma in the neck, dissolving said creature into nothingness. This marked the fourth one he had killed in as many minutes as he and his team tried their best to fend back the oncoming attack of the demonic creatures.

Ivan was the other person who was dealing the most damage to the herd of Akuma attacking the young Heroes in training. Using his Terrakinesis Trait, he was able to hurl large chunks of rock and earth at the repulsive beings, taking out a large number of them.

One of the distorted creatures that appeared to be a rhino that would walk upon its two hind legs possessed two large cannons in place of frontal hooves. Before the majority of the group even had time to react, a bright red laser beam erupted from these canons, aimed directly at the group's centre.

As Mylene covered her eyes, Marinette focused on defensive movements, touching her clothes hidden materials and slamming her other now glowing hand into the ground, she began to duplicate atoms at a rapid rate. Doing so caused massive wall made of a strong metallic alloy to block the laser attack, protecting the team from disintegration. "Steel Surroundings!"

"Nice reflexes!" Adrien yelled a compliment to the blue haired student, before Teleporting next to the rhino Akuma, and quickly Teleporting both himself and the beast high into the air, and returning back to safety with a third jump in location, while he allowed gravity to drag the rhino – resembling creature to its doom.

"You want some?!" Ivan yelled to the demonic creatures, a grin spread across his face. Disheartened, the Akuma began to slowly back away from the strong teenagers, understanding their chances against them were next to nil. They began to retreat, leaving the group of trainees to recover themselves after an intense battle.

Adrien slumped against the steel wall Marinette had created, and slid down to the ground. He was covered in sweat, his hair messy and stuck to his face. He took in multiple deep breaths, recovering his lost oxygen from the hard fight. His body was hot, and his hands covered in Akuma blood, dark green in colour. He shook his head rapidly, trying to shake off the disturbing comparisons that this had to his mother's death.

The remaining members of group A attended to any wounds that they were suffering from. While a strike from an Akuma was not a major injury, it could still lead to infection if not treated, just the same as any other wound. Ivan had suffered several, due to the reckless and uncoordinated manner he had been attacking. Whereas Adrien's attacks were polished, refined, and with purpose, Ivan had been throwing himself into combat without thinking, getting up close when his Trait was stronger at a distance.

"You should've given yourself some space to use your powers more." Marinette told his, using her powers to recover his skin. Mylene aided her as best she could, holding the large teenagers cut closed, and applying bandages to the damage done across his skin. "Traits like ours, we're better at medium-to-long range."

"Easy for you to say." Ivan joked, hissing a bit in slight pain as his skin replicated itself. "Your power is great at all ranges no matter how you look at it. You just prefer being at mid-range. Me? I gotta get what I can. My aim isn't all too great. So I gotta get in a bit closer."

"It's no good if you hurt yourself..." Mylene said softly, tightening the bandage she was applying to his arm as Marinette finished her duplication. "You need to be more careful, okay? Promise me?"

"I... Uh... Sure thing, Mylene." Ivan nodded, accepting the critique from her.

"Still..." Adrien commented, letting out a large sigh as he did so. "You can't say... He didn't... Take out a lot of Akuma..." He panted between every few words, still recovering his breath from his fighting. "How... How many'd you get?"

"I think ten."

"Twelve." Adrien smirked. "Guess I... Got you beat there... Heh."

He, along with his teammates, and everyone they knew, thought nothing of killing Akuma. It was simply how the chain of the world worked. Akuma had been around for as long as Traits had, coming into creation alongside the superpowers. It simply had been a case of adapt of die for Humanity during the beginning of the Traits era.

Akuma were, simply, animals that had developed Traits alongside humanity, but mutated to grotesque degrees. They lost all sense of domestication and docile capabilities when powers began to manifest within them. It was almost certain that an animal that developed a Trait was to become a monster like creature, no different than a troll from a fairy tale, or a dragon from a legend. They became ferocious, outlandish and perverted in appearance, matched only by their aggression to any sentient species on the planet.

Over time, Humanity just came to accept that killing Akuma was par for the course. A thing they had to do to survive. Hell, killing Akuma was one of the most common jobs for a Hero to undertake.

"The school really wants to push us, huh?" Marinette said, thinking out loud. "I didn't think that there would be any Akuma in this forest... They've been so close to us for this long and we never noticed..." The CFD wouldn't send its students into the Frenzy Forest if they were not confident in their abilities. Should it appear that they were in danger, they could rest easy knowing someone would come and help them... Theoretically.

"Well, we are the next generation of Heroes... I'm more interested as to how they even got them here." Adrien said, wiping his brow of sweat. "Not that it matters too much... We've still got to keep making our way to the objective. And now we know that Akuma are on the prowl, that's just one more thing we have to worry about, as well as ambushes and time constraints..." He tapped the steel wall behind him, causing a metallic sound to vibrate and rebound from his hit. "But if we keep fighting like this, I think we've got nothing to worry about."

"Hopefully we can just hurry out of here before anything else happens..." Mylene said, glancing around the treeline for signs of any other Akuma that may be creeping up on the resting group. Just because she saw nothing, didn’t mean that nothing was there. A low gurgle could be heard in the distance. From what, who knew? "Ooooh... I hope everyone else is okay..."

"There's a lot about this test I still don't understand..." The Conversion Trait user told her teammates, catching their attention. "Well, we all know that the Written test was to see how well we could gather information, and none of our Traits are suited to that at all. But not a lot of Heroes have purely information gathering Traits, so they can't fail us for that... There has to be a reason for having both a Written and Physical test..."

Her teammates all agreed with her, and contemplated the possibilities that that left them with, although none of them could come to a definitive conclusion. The entire day had seemed like one big test in itself, seeing exactly what it was that each student could do, and how they could apply themselves the best. What were the parameters being tested here?

What was it they were here being tested on?

None of them knew.

"We should keep going." Ivan said, standing up straight. He stumbled a small bit, but regained his balance quickly afterwards. "We're gonna get left behind if we don't."

"Good thinking." Adrien agreed, nodding with his Earth-Manipulating classmate, Teleporting himself closer to the group. "We're gonna end up in last place if we -"

He was cut off in that moment by the sounds of loud screams suddenly shattering the quiet sounds of the forest. All four of the student's heads shot in the direct of the yells and the calls from in the distance. Shortly after they all heard the sound of an explosion, the aftermath of an attack by someone, or something, attacking their classmates, wherever they were within the forest.

"What the hell?" Exclaimed Adrien a few seconds after the noises seemed to cease. There was no doubt a conflict was still underway as the stillness returned to the forest, a fight being fought in silence, perhaps a mile away from where they stood.

"That has to be our classmates..." Mylene commented, shivering. What had happened to them? Had they been attacked by Akuma, and caught unaware, or was another group ambushing them, plotting their downfall, and taking them out of the picture to better their own chances?

Dilemma forced itself upon the four young teenagers, and they could all tell what one another thought. Was it really okay to leave their classmates, their friends, like this while they carried on, and make it to the finishing line? Was that not what this test was telling them to do? To forget about the others, and focus on themselves? Prove that they could be Heroes, not prove that others could be Heroes if they got the help from outside sources. What benefit could there be to aiding out another group from their own terrible situation? They had just gotten out of their own, so what business was it of theirs to get involved in another's problems?

A Hero's problem. That's whose problem it was.

"We've got to go help them." Marinette declared suddenly, surprising her group. She spoke with conviction and determination, rather than the quiet, softly spoken manner she presented her class with on every other day of the week. Her fists were tightly closed, and her eyes narrow and focused. She had made up her mind about this, her allies could already tell.

"Right." Adrien nodded, being the first to agree with her, shortly followed by Ivan and Mylene.

Coming in first place would have to be their second priority.

Number one was making sure the other group was okay.

* * *

 

While slapdash and jagged, the swords Nathaniel had drawn for himself and Lila were usable, and viable weapons to face the incoming onslaught of creepy Akuma attacking them. Whenever one of them came too close to the two of them, they targeted the weak points - The eyes, the necks, the belly, anywhere where it lacked defensive armour, in order to get a killing blow. Back-to-back, the Germanic and Italian teammates were able to hold their own, while Alix and Kim were in the thick of the fight, due to their combat orientated powers.

Alix was able to use her Trait to pick up heavy levels of momentum, which she then placed into her legs and arms, which let her hit her opponents at heavily damaging levels. Every strike was precise and powerful, easily capable of penetrating an Akuma's hide or scales, or whatever the individual creature may possess. Kim meanwhile, covered his hands in his molten-hot liquid, burning any of his opponents into ashes as they came at him. He was beginning to feel the drawbacks to his powers, but he was unable to take the time out to rest, as the swarm of creatures refused to stop, still leaping out and attacking the group.

"Does anyone see any openings?!" Lila yelled out, the exhaustion clear in her voice. How long had this fight been going on for? Ten minutes? They hadn't even had the smallest break from the assault. No one was coming to save them either. They had to stand their ground, or they'd be defeated. Those were the only options available to them.

The blur that was Alix stopped briefly next to the sword-wielding pair of teammates, returning to her regular human speed, replying with a curt and short, "Nothing!" Before dashing off again, sending an Akuma flying into a nearby tree as she did so.

Surrounded by their opponents, Kim was unable to respond. As the one up front, he was in the most dangerous position, since his Trait was arguably the strongest one of everyone in his groups, at least in terms of pure combat power output. He let out a spinning jettison of his deadly power around him by spinning on his heels and swinging his arms out wide, maximizing centrifugal forces, and dousing the Akuma circling him with the scorching liquid. "There's nothing over here either!"

Each member of the group was totally occupied and in direct combat, leaving them unable to also look for a way to escape. They had to fight their way out, unless they could find a way to outsmart the Akuma. Normally, this would not be a difficult task to accomplish, but since they were caught off guard, and the sheer number of Akuma was nothing short of staggering, the group had to think on their toes. While her teammates were busy fighting off the monsters, their resident olive-eyed Italian formulated a plan as quickly as she could.

With gritted teeth, Lila prodded Nathaniel with her elbow, and asked, "Do you think you can cover me for a minute? I have an idea!" As she spoke, she shoved her weapon into Nathaniel's free hand, leaving him in possession of two weapons, one in each of his hands, shaking from the adrenaline running through his veins.

"What - What're you -"

"Just cover me! I only need a minute!" She ordered this time, slapping her hands together, and closed her eyes as she began the first stages of her plan. This would take her a short while to fully prepare, but once she had it done, the Akuma should be fooled, and give the group a short period of time to recover and get the hell out of their current location and get back on track. As she prepared, she muttered quietly to herself, "Stay focused, Lila... Focus on what you want to project..."

Lila Rossi - Trait - Illusion - Lila possesses the ability to cast illusions with her mind. All she had to do to cast one is have a clear image of what she wants to create, and she can project it from her palms. When distracted however, this can take a longer period of time to create. Additionally, she must clap her hands together before she can activate her ability. Using this power too much, or over-exerting herself, will cause her to become increasingly tired, and eventually pass out.

As Nathaniel presumably fought against any of the attacking the incoming beasts, as she could hear the sounds of skidding, falling, and swords clashing, Lila focused on what it was she desired to project to scare away the incoming Akuma. It wasn't much, but it was something - A giant, titanic, totally night black human with dangerous, glowing eyes. The intimidation factor alone would be enough to scare off the mindless beasts, at least in theory.

Sounds of battle distracted her, but she was getting close to what she desired to create. Just a few more seconds...

"Lila! Watch out!" Came Kim's voice, shattering the total concentration she had acquired.

Having soared high above Nathaniel's range of attack, thanks to a set of large, powerful wings that it sprouted, a gargoyle like Akuma had flanked around the left, and was now, with a sickening, cracked smile, charged straight for Lila, claws extended, and razor sharp. Useless in hand to hand combat, Lila could only stare her attacker down as it darted in with speed and meaning. Her legs refused to move, not responding to the impulses her brain fired at her nerves.

Her attacks relied on trickery. Deception. Lies. But she needed time to create them. To come up with them. She couldn't develop one in an instant. Not yet. Her Trait had been wonderful during the Written examination. She had just created an Illusion that made it appear that she was in her desk, whereas in reality, she had been able to walk around the room at will, sneaking looks at other people's answers, and even seeing a copy of the test at the front desk. Then, when she had time to prepare, she had been impeccable with her powers. But now? There wasn't anything she could do.

Without fully understanding it, she had accepted her defeat the second she made contact with the flying Akuma's grey, dead eyes.

In just that second before she would have felt a set of claws tear apart her abdomen, she felt a puff of air slap her in the face, and then saw a darkness spreading throughout the creature, courtesy of a blond teenager whom had jumped in front of her at the very last moment. Adrien Agreste, the Dual Trait wielder. Her classmate. Right now, her rival in the contest to pass the Physical Examination, had saved her. His Destruction Trait had landed, his left hand blocking the claws from the creature that were about to slice open Lila, and his right hand grasped onto the Akuma's body, spreading through, and disintegrating it's body from the atomic level, until only dust remained.

Quickly turning around to grab hold of her wrist, Adrien Teleported both him and her away from the hair-raising creature, into a clearing next to Nathaniel, who was now joined with Ivan, Mylene and Marinette, all using their various Traits to fight back the monsters. They hadn't been there long before the creatures ran away, knowing that with the arrival of these new Humans, they stood no chance. In large numbers, Humans were nearly impossible to defeat, at least for an Akuma.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked the girl he had just saved. On his right arm, the visual effect of his Destruction Trait began to fade, eventually returning to his normal, pale skin tone. His left hand had already turned to normal when he had grabbed her wrist. Had it not, her clothing would have been disintegrated.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." Lila responded, a bit shaken, and slightly smitten with her saviour. "Thanks... For the save.." Were the only words she could manage to say to him. There was a small red tint to her natural skin colour, not enough that someone could notice it without looking closely, but it was there, and would be found by those who were observant. Thankfully for her, no one was that observant here.

"Lila!" Breaking the moment between the two, Kim's voice rang out as he knelt beside his teammate, checking on her like she had just been seriously injured. He turned off his lava Trait. The clothes he wore were designed to be resistant to lava and extreme temperatures. Marinette had designed it for him when he had asked her, knowing of her designing capabilities. With a voice filled with concern, he asked Lila, "Are you alright?"

"She's fine, you hothead." Alix commented with sigh, kicking him lightly with the side of her heel. "You see any blood on her? Or cuts? Or anything?" She let the Vietnamese descendant look before she tapped his head with her knuckle. "Didn't think so. Adrien saved her."

"Yeah, I'm... I'm okay." Lila commented, standing upright now, and dusting off her clothing. "I'm just... Just a bit... Spooked... I'm okay, I think."

Marinette didn't let the group's interactions slide. She noted how Kim acted, and smiled to herself. While Kim may not be the smartest person in their class, he definitely had the most team spirit, and was a very caring person. When he was on a team, he normally ended up as the de-facto leader, simply because of how much he cared about his teammates, and how much he wanted to win, for all of his members. He made a very good leader, even if he was, as Alix had accurately stated, hot-headed.

True to her tomboy nature, Alix was competitive and argumentative, but it was clear she did all these in good fun. She clearly felt like she had a good relationship with all her teammates, and was comfortable with making jokes with them, or being as blunt as she liked with them where applicable. Even if she did seem to have issues with Lila, she didn’t distrust the long haired brunette.

"I-I'm sorry!" Nathaniel apologized abruptly, bowing his head down. "I - I couldn't keep the Akuma away from you!"

"Not your fault." Lila dismissed very easily, not even looking at the red haired Sketch Trait user, instead opting to readjust her outfit. "It could fly. You couldn't have done anything to stop that. Don't worry about it." The Illusionist dusted down her long, brown hair, before facing Group A and asking, "Why'd you help us? I'm not complaining or anything, but why'd you go out of your way?"

"You sounded like you needed help." Was Marinette's response. She knew very little about Lila, especially when compared to her other classmates. They had had nearly no interactions over the past year, leaving her personality a huge unknown factor for the blue haired girl. But her words were sincere. Her group had needed help. That had been the only motivation to their own group's intervention.

"We appreciate it." Kim nodded with a sigh and smile.

"I mean, I could have taken them myself if I had a bit more time..." Alix joked, while stretching her arms. She knew that in truth, she would have been unable to, or she would have done so within the few seconds it would have taken with her Trait. She just liked to act tougher than she knew she was. "But thanks anyway."

"Th - Thank you." Nathaniel's response was curt and abrupt, like he didn't desire to continue talking for long as he spoke. Marinette knew him as shy, reserved, and unwilling to talk to other people if he could get away with it. Similar to how she had been when she first ran into Alya while applying for the Design course at the CFD. He seemed to be like this especially when he was around the blunette, for whatever reason there was for that.

"Problem now is that we're all behind everyone else." Adrien sighed. "Everyone else probably already made their way to the finishing line of the exam. It's probably down between the two of our groups."

The members of Group A and Group C looked at one another when the blond model said this. Both were aware of the point reduction penalty that the losing team would suffer. And yet, they didn't feel like fighting over who would take the penalty. While Group C was thankful, they had no real desire to fail the test to repay their saviours, and Group A felt the same way towards their classmates.

"I've got an idea." Kim said, with a smile.

* * *

 

Group B, Nino, Alya, Rose and Juleka had crossed the finishing line first, much to their happiness. They had beaten every other group by over an hour, which brought them much joy. Several obstacles in the manner of Akuma had thrown themselves at them, but with excellent team work, skill, and powerful abilities, they had managed to fight off the invading hordes of the creatures. They had arrived with time to spare, and had managed to relax in the time they had to wait for the rest of the groups.

Group D came in second place, which was a surprise. The mismatched team of Max, Chloe and Sabrina, while Chloe heavily criticized her teammates the entire time, had managed to use their various skills to avoid Akuma attack altogether, despite it taking longer than it would have done had they chosen to fight. It was a demonstration of smarts and logical reasoning, at least from Sabrina and Max, which had led to them being able to avoid conflict with the targets altogether. Skills any Hero needed.

What was unusual however, was that several hours had passed before either one of them heard from Groups A or C. even the teachers were left feeling uneasy at how long it was taking those two groups to accomplish their task.

"You think maybe we should go looking for them?" Tatiana asked her colleagues, worried in expression and tone. The Hero known as Flora was well known for her attachment to her students, regardless of how long she had been teaching them for.

"Give it another hour." Fuel Tank said, brushing off the concern the Latino teacher expressed. "If they can't handle this sort of task, then they've been wasting their time training to be Heroes for the last year. Akuma are the least of their worries in this line of work."

While she disliked the level of bluntness that the Oil Trait user expressed, Tatiana knew he was right. Villains were far more dangerous than any Akuma could ever hope to be, and Heroes were the ones who took down those Villains. Humans were far more dangerous than animals with Traits. And that was what they were expected to fight. Akuma should be easy pickings for them, even if they were kids.

"Have some faith in them." Crosscut told his fellow Heroes. "I think we're gonna be in for a surprise."

"What makes you say that?" Fuel Tank asked.

As if on cue, the teachers and students began to hear the incoming rustling and cracking of twigs, signifying that another group was on its way. It caught the attention of everyone, eager to see who of their friends had made it first. Those who came in last place suffered a point reduction, so whoever it was that crossed the line now would have a massive advantage over the other.

As the next few moments passed, Alya and Nino couldn't help but remember a quote that they had been taught about in the days leading up until this point.

_Heroes are Heroes because they are Heroic in behaviour..._

Group A and C emerged at the same time, as one large collection of students. Lila, with her arm around Marinette, whom was helping her to walk in a straight line, since the brown haired girl was having trouble staying on her feet after her fright. In a similar manner, Alix was helping keep Kim steady, since the burns from his Trait had been far worse than previously expected. Each member of the group had a triumphant smile on their faces, like they had taken on the world itself and won.

Fuel Tank smiled himself. They had figured out the true meaning of the Physical Examination.

Both Groups passed the line at the exact same time.

_...Not because they won or lost._


	11. What We've Earned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people never feel like they earned what they did...

"That was an inspiring display of camaraderie." Fuel Tank told the exhausted young Heroes with a rare smile. He stood there upright at the shambled group, some bent over with their hands on their knees to keep them upright, one or two sat down on the ground, and others just panting for breath. Despite having gone through the hell that was the Frenzy Forest, they had come out on top, with their allies at either side. "I am very impressed with your actions."

Groups A and C had caused quite the stir with their entrances. Crossing the finishing line at the same time had been a totally intentional choice. They had worked together, and without the other team, they may not have made it. It was as symbolic as it was making a statement. They may be on opposing teams, but the spirit of Heroism still lived on in them. Rivals, competitors, it made no difference. They were all Heroes.

At least, they all wanted to be. And Heroes stood together.

They stood together.

They stood as one.

"Crossing the finishing line at the same time!" Tatiana seemed to be very excited about the whole occurrence, dropping the stern persona she had help previously, throwing her caution to the wind, and revealing her true personality - A bubbly, excitable individual. A child in an adult's body. "I don't think I've seen an example of that ever happening before!"

"Me neither." Crosscut smiled, proud of the two groups. Sure, it had been done before. Groups uniting in order to complete the course. It had just been a rather long time. None of the current staff had actually seen it with their own eyes. "That's going to give them a huge boost in points too, isn't it?"

"50 points." Fuel Tank said, like he was casually giving them away. 50! That equalled _full marks_! They passed the test with full marks because of something like _that_?! "Heroism isn't all about fighting. Being a Hero means sacrifice. And you both displayed the willingness to sacrifice yourselves, and your victory, to save another. That is fully deserving of full marks."

Groups A and C cheered at the news, giving one another high fives, smiles, and even hugs at the news!

Nino patted his blond friend on the back with a smile. "Dude, you're way too altruistic sometimes. You're makin' me look bad, bro."

Adrien smiled back at his friend. "Try to catch up."

"As for the rest of you... Let's move on to full marks, passes or failures for the day's events." Nino's smile shattered in that moment as his heart stopped. Adrien's too. With 50 points, he knew it would be a massive advantage... But without the 30 to make the 80 required points...

"While not all of you met the 80 point quota... Everyone has acquired the criteria needed to pass the tests today. Congratulations."

Wait, _what_?

Suddenly, the entire class was up in a frenzy.

"What the hell do you mean we _all_ passed?!"

That news had been a massive shock to every single member of the Hero course, causing eyes to widen, jaws to drop, and several members to literally collapse from a combination of relief and surprise. The Hero course from the CFD had one of the highest fallout rates in the country, and they were telling the students every single one of them had passed? But it made no sense for them to all have accumulated enough points to succeed! Many of them knew they had failed the Written Test, without question! So how had this happened?

Crosscut had a smirk on his face, like he'd known that this would be the end result all along. "That's right. Every person in this class has passed the examinations. You've all displayed the skills and quirks needed for Heroes in this society we live in." He spoke with pride and genuine impress, as well as relief himself that he didn't have to expel any students from the course of hopeful Heroes. He always hated doing that sort of thing. It wasn't the kind of person he was, in spite of whatever his appearance may insinuate.

"H... How did we all pass?! I thought we were being graded on information gathering and combat ability!" Juleka was the first one to actually speak up and question how any of this even began to make the slightest bit of sense.

"You were." Fuel Tank confirmed Juleka's assessment with a blunt tone. Despite the cold demeanour he displayed, he was actually impressed with the class's abilities. "And if any of you failed on both of those fronts, I'd have kicked you out before you even finished the Physical Examination. But tell me something. How many Heroes do you know that are masters at both information gathering _and_ combat? "

"Alya's Trait would be perfect for that sort of thing." Juleka answered quickly.

"And that's why she scored 97 out of 100. But how many people have a power like hers? Very few. In our society, our powers are revolved around the ability to defend ourselves and fight. Combat is a line of duty, one that many people are not cut out for. You're a prime example of someone who is. Your power is to do with the shadows, correct?"

"Yeah. I can make them fight for me." Juleka answered, and as she did so, her own shadow began to deform and mutate, becoming a physical object, that surrounded her body. A chunk, about an inch thick, rested itself on her shoulder.

Juleka Couffaine - Trait - Solid Shadow Strike - Juleka's Trait allows her to turn her shadows into a solid object, which she can then use to combat her opponents. More specifically, she is able to take darkness from around her, convert it into a solid object, and control it to fight. She can manipulate her shadow into a variety of shapes, sizes, and control them at will. This Trait works exceptionally well at night, or in darker areas. Subsequently, it is much weaker while it is bright. Additionally, overuse of this ability will leave her unable to activate her Trait, as well as leave her exhausted.

"Your power is an incredibly powerful and versatile one. To choose not to train that power, to nurture it and guide someone so gifted to become a Hero that they want to be, would be a total violation of everything that we as teachers are supposed to stand for." The Plant Trait teacher Titania told her new student. "You chose to use your power to become a Hero. And you possess skill with it. You can be a Hero with it. That's why you passed."

"Likewise, Heroism is a dangerous profession." Fuel Tank added on. "Information gathering Heroes are simply a requirement. The Written test was designed specifically to test which of you were able to use your powers to gather information. Running into a fight blind is stupid, and if you do that after we've spent the next few years training you, frankly, we should get fired. The Physical exam was designed to test those of you who shine in combat."

"Then what was the reason for the points?!" Kim asked.

"There was a point to them." Crosscut said with a smirk. "We said you needed 80 points to pass the examination. We lied. You only needed 50. If you excelled in combat, or in Information gathering, then we would have accepted you in anyway. So many people try to appeal to everything and in the end, succeed in doing nothing. Some of you have powers that let you do both, but many of you don't. Ms. Cesaire is a rare example of a person who possesses a power that allows her to be effective at both combat, and information gathering."

Alya had to blush at the compliment.

"Meanwhile, someone like Mr. Agreste possesses the powers and skills better suited to that of a combatant. His powers are designed to be used in combat, while someone such as Ms. Raincomprix excels at information." Fuel Tank expanded on the reasons the tests were based as they were, to a now contently listening class. "In a hypothetical situation in which Adrien and Sabrina were forced to work together to take down a Villain, what reason, or even slight chance, would Adrien have at gathering information on their opponents?"

The comparison was suddenly clear to every student there. Logic would dictate that in that scenario, Adrien should be the fighter, while Sabrina acted as his back up, calling out moves that his opponent was going to attempt by reading their minds.

"Use what you have. Possess a skill level high enough, and it can take you anywhere. Every one of you proved that you have qualities that a Hero must inhabit. Adrien. You showed exceptional skill at fighting. Kim and Chloe, you both displayed exceptional leadership abilities." Marinette almost choked when she heard that compliment being thrown for Chloe of all freaking people. "Marinette has displayed incredible intelligence and ingenuity." Now she blushed. "Ivan displayed the fierce protectiveness a Hero must show all citizens in the line of duty. I can list off every single one of your talents and qualities all day if I had to."

Every single person here had a gift. A talent. A Trait. Something that belonged to them, and them alone. Each of them had chosen to use their gifts to help other people.

"Just know this. Your powers have brought you this far, and your individual merits have helped you take the next step to becoming a Hero. Tomorrow, it is up to you to make the commitment."

Each and every one of them was going to continue on their journeys to become Heroes... The thought suddenly filled the shy blunette with excitement and determination. No one had to give up on their dreams here... They all passed!

"Tomorrow, you shall be finally joining the Elite and Valour courses in their training exercises. Anyone who wants to back out, now is the time. Anyone who felt they couldn't handle what was in that forest, don't bother coming in tomorrow. Because it's only going to get a thousand times worse from here on out. The training session tomorrow will prove that. Dismissed."

* * *

The office of the head of the legendary College Francoise Dupoint, Mr. Damocles, was often a busy place, with teachers and Heroes coming and going, delivering him reports and requests whenever they were able to get a free moment. As a teacher, and a headmaster, of France's pride and joy in education, as well as a successful retired Hero himself, Mr. Damocles was a highly respected individual in the industry he worked in. His years of experience, combined with a passion for teaching the next generation on their gifts and powers, made him an excellent choice to lead the school.

Hiring Crosscut, Fuel Tank, and Flora had been a choice he had made himself, personally. He had wanted professional Heroes to teach at the school, to give the students the best chances that they would be able to get to see how the professionals operated, how they viewed the Heroism career path, and what an individual needed in order to utilize their powers, regardless of their origins. Heroism wasn't a discriminatory business. It couldn't afford to be. Not in this world of Superpowers.

That was also why they couldn't afford to be easy on their students. Every task was designed to challenge them, every test made to make them fear failure, every training exercise to install the real feeling of combat, be that a thrill or a phobia for their students.

Mr. Damocles heard a knocking at his door, and gave the person on the other side the permission to enter. Fuel Tank was the one who opened the door and entered, his oil-like fluids visible underneath his skin. With papers in his hands, he stood smartly, like he was at attention, in front of the headmaster's desk. "Sir. I have the reports on the students who passed their entry criteria that you asked for."

"Thank you, Keros." Damocles addressed the Hero by his birth name, and gestured him to place the files on the desk in front of him, which the Oil-Trait user did so without question or complaint. There were a large number of files, each sheet filled with lines of information about one individual per page. Names, powers, species, and the course they chose. Just the crucial information that was needed. The retired Hero noticed the number of files and smiled. "A lot of students passed the process this year, it would seem."

"All of them."

"I beg your pardon?"

"One hundred percent of all the students who got past orientation passed, sir. We've had no dropouts, no failures, and no expulsions. Each student has proven themselves worthy."

This had certainly not been an outcome the headmaster had been expecting. He looked at the stack of papers, roughly over a couple hundred of them, and then back at the stoic Hero, whom Damocles had been certain would have failed several of the students. He had almost been expecting half the students to be dropped by Fuel Tank alone. "You're not getting soft, are you?"

"Hardly." Came the curt response, still laced with the tone of respect. "Every student here has what it takes. Some of them still have some quirks that need to be smoothed out, but there isn't a single person I can point to and say ' _Get out_ ' to. Now it's up to them if they wish to continue pursuing this path."

A full pass rate! Every single student passing the CFD's entry criteria had been unheard of in its three hundred year history. It had been assumed to be totally impossible. A Traits power, the quality of the individual, and their individual talents, all combined and tested by point systems as well as Heroes, strict and critical in their nature.

Heroism was a dangerous business. It was a brutal, bloody business. There really couldn't be any other way of describing the life of a Hero. An ever changing battlefield of superpowers, Villains, Akuma, and a never-ending spiral to the violent natures of sentience. Even the Superpowers in the world were an ever changing phenomenon.

Particularly in the last few decades, with recent discoveries...

"This is looking to be quite the interesting year." Damocles said, turning his seat around to overlook the courtyard as the students filed out and made their way to their respective homes. These children were the future. He knew that. He had assembled his entire staff, and taught the pupils based on the knowledge. These were the next Heroes, the next officers, soldiers, designers, the people who would lead the world of Heroics in the next few decades. Each of them had to be taught with the utmost care, tailored specifically for their needs.

And it looked like this year, the students possessed some of the most powerful abilities he'd ever seen.

* * *

Marinette's parents had shown just the same level of excitement that they had shown her when she had first gotten into the CFD. Hugs and cheers, and even a few tears of joy had been shed from the Euro-Chinese family, expressing their pride and love of their daughter and her academic skill. The young girl had had to forcefully escape her parent's clutches before she was able to go to her room and just come to terms with everything that had happened over the day.

She had succeeded in the tests... All of them. She was now a member of the real meat of the CFD's Hero course. The legendary Hero course... It never was a place she expected to end up at, not in a hundred years. Never had she believed that she'd end up in the course for the next wave of Heroes to take to the streets and defend the country, no, all Humanity... And yet, she had done it. And she couldn't have been more proud of herself.

Looking back on it, Marinette wondered, did her being Ladybug have anything to do with it? Fighting against Sunstreak, and learning the ropes of Heroism alongside Chat Noir, that had to have something to do with it. There wasn't any real doubt about that. She didn't doubt that the experience that she had gathered when fighting a Villain like that had been invaluable in the fight against the Akuma in the Frenzy Forest test.

It had made her an asset to her team. She had been able to help. Really, in an event like this, it was honestly all you could ever want to be. Useful. Someone who would contribute to the team, and aid in the overall victory.

Marinette did what you could call a small celebratory dance at her own success in her room before she was interrupted by her phone buzzing, and for a brief moment, she thought she had been caught. Her heart restarted, and she reached for the device. A text from Alya awaited her.

_'Girl, Nino's parents are letting him throw a party to celebrate passing! Everyone's going, minus Chloe and Sabrina, obviously. You down? Meet me at 6 outside yours if you are!?'_

Marinette smiled. Nino was definitely the type of person to throw a party to celebrate. He'd already thrown a few over the course of the year, a couple of which Marinette had gone to. One of those, Chloe had been invited to... And it had not gone well, so it wasn't a shock that Nino hadn't invited them. Marinette wasn't a huge party person, since she could be a bit awkward at times, but it wasn't the sort of thing she hated. And what the heck, they'd earned it tonight, hadn't they?

She quickly typed in an agreement to tag along to the party held by their Hydrokinetic friend, and threw open her wardrobe to select some of the many, many clothes she had. Looking threw them now was a bit odd to the blue haired girl. She had always done these clothes as practice for the Design course, and now, she was using them as party wear? It was a reminder on just how much she had changed over the past year. How much Adrien's actions, how much Hero's actions, had inspired her to change her path, to something where her Trait would be put to good use. Better use. The use of helping people.

Browsing through her creations, she selected some casual clothing, nothing too fancy. A pair of dark grey, skin-tight jeans, coupled with a black T-shirt, this particular one being made out of textiles such as wool and rayon. To go over it, to help fight these colder nights in the European capital, she brought along a black jacket, that had tints of blue, similar to her hairs natural colour, this one, again, designed by herself, and again, made of the similar materials to that of her -T-shirt.

It wasn't anything special, but it would do. Glancing at the clock, Marinette noticed that she was already at 17:50, leaving her with about ten minutes to let her parents know where she was going, as well as grab a quick bite to eat before she spent the next few hours at the social event with her classmates. Practically throwing herself out of her rooms floor-based door and crashing into the floor beneath her, Marinette quickly dashed into her family's kitchen, and grabbed some of the first thing she saw - Chicken, as it turned out to be.

"Going out, dear?" Marinette heard her mother's voice from behind her, soft as usual. She had inherited her mother's soft side, as well as her natural blunette hair colour. A few thousand years ago, blue hair would have never been a thing. Thanks to the world of superpowers they lived in now though, blue hair wasn't uncommon at all.

"Mmhmm." Marinette made a noise with her throat before she swallowed the mouthful of meat she had stuffed inside her mouth, before shutting the door and finally answering with an understandable language. "Yeah. Alya invited me to a party at Nino's house."

"Celebrating passing?"

"Yeah. Most of our class is gonna be there. Alya's gonna be here in a few minutes, so I just wanted to get something real quick."

"I'll leave you something in the fridge for when you get back." Sabine smiled. "Just make sure not to get _too_ drunk. You still have to go back to school tomorrow, and you don't want to make a bad impression after getting through today, do you?"

"I didn't plan on drinking, Mom." Marinette smiled, good naturedly. "I don't think Nino can even get hold of alcohol. You know what his family is like." It was a bit of a joke between people at their classes. Their Hydrokinetic friend's parents knew fully well of his powers and his partying personality, so they made it a point to keep liquor very well hidden from him.

"Don't stay too late."

"I won't!" With that reassurance, Marinette felt her phone buzzing, and checked her screen. Another text, once again, from her scarlet haired friend. "Crap! Alya's already outside! Gotta go!" Marinette planted a quick kiss on her mother's cheek, as she traditionally did, before running straight out of the house to meet with her waiting friend. She made sure to grab her bag, though. Just in case.

* * *

Where Marinette wore blue and grey, Alya wore red and black. The Broadband Trait user seemed to have a skill when it came to choosing clothes that Marinette was certain were designed specifically to upstage her, although Alya reassured her again and again that the clothes she had on suited her fantastically. It amused them both, when they stopped to point it out - They had spent the day fighting Akuma, pushed to the absolute limits, and had passed the most brutal course test in all of the country, and they were fussing over how their clothes looked for a party with classmates. The two of them shot jokes at one another, asking if they thought Nino would be DJ-ing, if someone would finally be able to convince Juleka and Rose to get over their public awkwardness together and dance, and - This one was mainly at Alya's amusement - If Marinette would fall to pieces upon seeing Adrien at the event.

"Adrien's going?!"

"I did say everyone, girl. What's up, don't you wanna see him?"

"Ah-aaaa, I'm a mess..." Marinette muttered to herself. She hadn't even considered Adrien being there. It just hadn't clicked. She would have done her hair better if she'd known. She'd have done... A great many things, actually, if she had known.

"Relax, M." Alya patted her friend's shoulder with a mischievous look on her face. "This could be the day I get Nino to play a slow dance for you and Adrien, and you get whisked away by your handsome prince!"

"Please don't." blushed the Conversion Trait user, covering her hands to hide her red face.

"I was gonna do it for Rose and Juleka anyway. And Ivan and Mylene. Might as well get you and Adrien in on it."

"Please stop playing matchmaker with everyone."

"This coming from the girl who helped ignite the spark between those two?" A reference to Marinette's intervention when Ivan was attempting to convey his hidden feelings to the timid Push-Trait using girl. Marinette had given Ivan invaluable advice, - Which translated to telling him to just up and just give her the song he had written to serenade her; Far more politely, of course - which resulted in the friendly and almost loving relationship the two seemed to share. Everyone was convinced all they needed was a single push before they finally went through with it.

"I - I was just trying to be nice!"

"Sure thing, Mari. Sure thing."

The two continued their walk to Nino's house, hearing the music that they knew for a fact Nino had chosen, and seeing the improvised water display, that they had no doubt was thanks to Nino's Trait, before they even had reached his house. Alya knew for a fact no one would be able to hear them if they knocked, so she sent a quick message, courtesy of her Trait, to Nino's phone to inform them that they had arrived.

By the time they had reached the front door, there was their dark skinned friend, smirking and tapping his foot to the beat of the music. He was dressed in light fitting clothes, indicating he fully expected to be on the dance floor at some point during the evening. Judging by the level of sweat he was covered in, it was very possible he already had been on there. "Dudettes! Good to see you!"

"Thanks for having us, Nino." Marinette smiled at her classmate, before she took a look at the waterworks above them. It was almost like the water was acting as fireworks and disco lights, various liquids and colourings dancing, exploding and doing all manner of incredible things that natural water effects couldn't dream to create, all dancing above their heads. "I'm guessing that's all thanks to your Trait?"

"You got it!" Nino smiled, taking the opportunity to show off his superpowers. "Makes for good party entertainment!" He then stepped to the side, allowing the two girls to enter his home. He lived in a relatively wealthy home, nowhere close to what Adrien could boast, but just a small bit more impressive than Marinette's humble bakery home. "Come on in, girls! Get ready to party!"

"Is everyone else already here?" Alya asked, wiping her feet on the doormat so she didn't trek in any mud or any other sorts of debris onto her friend's carpets.

"Mylene hasn't shown up yet, but everyone else has. Final door on your left, you two! I'm just gonna grab more drinks."

"Alcohol?"

"Try energy drinks. My parents hide booze from me."

"Shocker." Alya chuckled to herself, before grabbing Marinette by the wrist and leading her through their classmate's home, and towards their other classmates in the back garden. "This is gonna be fun, Marinette! I can tell!"

Reaching the door to the garden, Marinette was able to spot a DJ set up, connected to some speakers that were blaring out some sort of techno-Electro genre of music, designed for parties and raves. Given that being a DJ was a pastime of Nino's, it didn't surprise her that he had some very good equipment to do it with. Filling up the garden were members of their class, all in small groups, some of them, like Alix and Kim, dancing and making absolute idiots out of themselves, while others like ivan and Nathaniel preferred to just sit on the sides, preferring to not be thrown into the spotlight like the more carefree members of their class did. Conversational groups were the largest type here today, with Adrien being in one with Lila, Max, Juleka and Rose.

Over the course of their time at the CFD, it had been a rare opportunity for their class to be like this, as a group, as friends. But after tonight, there would be even less time for it, so they had to make the most of it now, before they were thrown into the deep end of their education into the world of Superpowers.

Once Alya slid open the door, Alix was the first person to notice their arrival. She stopped her haphazard break-dance style moves, and smirked at the two young women who had entered the party unnoticed. "Look who decided to show up!"

Her declaration had managed to turn a few heads to see whom had arrived, welcoming the pair with a warm cheer, raised hands, and the occasional clap from someone else, somewhere. While it somewhat embarrassed Marinette, Alya took to acting like she had just hopped out of a limousine onto the red carpet, waving both her hands and smiling like a Hyena, and dragging Marinette along with her. She was just along for the ride at this point.

"Good to see you two made it." Juleka welcomed the two girls as they joined in the conversational group.

Alya had made a very conscious, very deliberate effort to make sure Marinette stood right next to Adrien, while she stood at her opposing side, so she couldn't call out her friend on it. The girl then laughed and grinned at everyone there. "Good to see you all too! We did it!"

"That we did." Max nodded with just as bright a smile. Of everyone there, Max had probably been the most concerned about his ability to actually pass the tests. His Trait wasn't a very useful one when it came to combat, so he had been worried. He was however, an absolute master at information gathering so he had had nothing to worry about. Not to mention, with the way that he was academically minded, not only had failing been a total breakdown to his system, it would have been a shock to literally every other person there.

"And tomorrow, we start proper training!" Rose stated, in her peppy, happy voice, bouncing up and down next. "I'm so excited."

"We've all been working hard." Adrien commented, slamming his left first, now covered in charcoal blackness from his Destructive power, into his natural skin coloured right hand and smirked. "I'm pumped! We're gonna be awesome!"

"You mean you're gonna do awesome." Lila commented, a smirk on her face.

"Sorry?"

"Lila's right, Adrien." Nino suddenly appeared, surrounded by many levitating balls of cold, icy water, each of which contained a fresh drink for the party guests. He sent each concentration of the liquid to a member of the party, and once they had taken it, brought that liquid to the centre of the conversational group, allowing them to use the water as a cooler. "You've spent a lot of time helping everyone out over the last few weeks. I don't think a lotta people would've passed if not for you, dude."

"I - I think that's pushing it a little..."

"No way." Juleka agreed with Nino. "Couple of hours with you, and I knew what I was doing with Solid Shadow Strike. I owe you one. And you too, Nino."

The compliments towards the Agreste child kept flowing in, causing him to blush and laugh nervously, but he appreciated them all the same, no matter how much he denied that they were true. He didn't really feel like he deserved such praise, since he was just doing what he felt anyone should have done in his situation, but if you were to ask literally any other member of his class, they would disagree wholeheartedly.

Adrien was, and always had been, a massive help to anyone who had ever needed it. He had earned the respect of everyone in his class for his relentless Heroic personality, work ethic, and willingness to help.

And the admiration of quite a few of the girls too. One of which planned to make her move.

They had been talking for quite a while, perhaps twenty or so minutes, before Lila had managed to make her way around the group to Adrien, and began to tug at his wrist. "Adrien, come on, we should dance!"

"Wait, what now?" The suddenly flustered Dual Trait holder managed to stutter out, while still being dragged away from the group, watching in amused surprise as this happened.

Well, excluding Alya and Marinette. Marinette watched in what could only be described as sheer horror, while Alya watched in surprise. When the heck had Lila shown any sort of interest in Adrien? They had all known each other for over a year, and not once had she shown any sort of curiosity, romantic feelings, or even acknowledgement in the way of the rich model.

"When the heck did she start to like Adrien?" Marinette hissed towards her tanned-skinned friend, the panic in her voice very clear. The only other person she'd had to compete with until this point was Chloe, and she was certain beyond certain that Adrien didn't like the blonde-haired bossy girl, even if they were friends. But Lila? She had no idea what Adrien thought about her!

"I have no idea girl." Came back the equally surprised answer. "But you might wanna make a move. Rapidly girl!"

"What am I supposed to do now?!" What could she do? Shove Lila into the DJ set? Grab Adrien's other hand and have a tug-of-war over him? Punch one of them? What exactly were her options here?!

"Figure it out quick!" Alya told her, preparing to push her friend straight at the couple about to reach the dance floor - Well, dance patio. She was literally a second away from pushing her towards her crush and the Italian when she was cut off.

"Isn't Mylene here yet?" Ivan's voice seemed to boom over everyone else's, even though he was speaking at normal volumes to Nino. The question seemed to echo above everyone else's, for no real reason, stopping Lila from dragging Adrien, and Alya from pushing Marinette towards her crush.

"I don't think so, Ivan." Nino responded, his own arms folded. "She said she was coming... I dunno what's keeping her." He flipped out his phone and showed his exchange of text messages with the naturally dreadlocked girl, proving his innocence in her absence. "She isn't answering anything I send her either."

The Terrakinetic teenager was worried. It was obvious, to anyone who even looked at him. The care he showed Mylene above every single member of their class was apparent to anyone with even a quarter of their brain functioning. He was obviously head over heels for her.

And she wasn't here. And he was worried about her.

It wasn't like his worry was unwarranted, either. With the violence Paris had to deal with thanks to Villains, thugs, and all manner of things criminal or crooked thanks to their society of Traits and Superpowers, it wasn't like it was unthinkable that something had happened to her.

Not that the reassurance that Ivan's worst case scenario could be accurate would improve his mood.

"I'll go look for her." Adrien announced to his previous teammate. "I'm pretty fast. I'll have a look around for her at her house and around the streets, and let you know if I find anything."

"Wait, what about our -" Lila began to protest, but by that point, Adrien had disappeared into a puff of smoke.

He hadn't even waited for anyone else's opinion on him Teleporting out of the party to go in pursuit of the missing teenage girl. Mostly because they'd know it wouldn't have stopped him. He was long gone by the time they had even processed what he had said he was going to do.

Marinette had to admit too, she was worried about Mylene, now that she had noticed she wasn't here yet. With Villain attacks on the rise, and a growth of violence surging throughout the city, and the entire country as of late… Travelling alone in Paris these days would be dangerous for anyone...

* * *

She wouldn't go back. She couldn't go back.

Watching cars go by her home, Mylene sighed for maybe the one hundredth time that day, hoping to get the pain in her chest expelled in some way. Her parents had been ecstatic about the news of her passing the CFD courses. They'd been overjoyed. Over the moon, and various other words that meant happy and proud. Joy had been prominent from the very start of her sentence.

She'd passed the hardest course in the entire country! She had to be proud! She had to be happy! How couldn't she be, she'd done what was impossible to thousands of people every single year! She was one in a thousand – Literally! So of course, that was how she acted. Smiling and laughing.

But that all betrayed her true emotions.

What she really felt.

And what she really felt was that she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve to pass the tests presented to her today. She didn't deserve to go onto the CFD's Hero course.

What was it that she had done to deserve it? In the Written portion of the exam, she had been worthless. She knew none of the answers at all, and couldn't even begin to try and gather the answers from those around her. She would have been caught and instantly failed immediately. And the Physical exam?...

What a joke she had been.

She was more than aware that her Trait was a powerful one. If she put in enough force, she could probably knock over a city block if she desired to. Push converted her kinetic energy, and multiplied it to inhumane levels, her body the only body on Earth that was capable of withstanding such an impact from the inside. Her Trait pin cushioned her body with internal impact dampeners, and rubbery muscles that could take the recoil.

And what had she done, while he friends and teammates fought to protect her?

She'd cowered in fear in the centre hoping everyone else would keep the Akuma away from her.

What sort of Hero could she be if she couldn't even help her teammates when they had needed her the most? What sort of person could she be with that sort of mentality, to hide when everyone else fought in her name? She had wanted to be a Hero to learn to face her fears, to overcome them, to become stronger than them, and stand tall as a person who wouldn't let her timid nature dominate the person that she was.

And she couldn't even manage that.

She was pathetic. She was a waste of a Trait.

Tears prickled her eyes as she thought these things. She was a waste of a Superpower. There were a thousand other people out there who would want this power, who _deserved_ this power... Someone who... Someone...

Someone who could actually put this ability to good use.

"Mylene!"

Hearing the poof of smoke that came with it, the depressed girl suddenly found Adrien stood next to her. She should have expected it, of course someone would come looking for her. She hadn't had the heart to turn down Nino's offer. She should have done, but she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do it.

"There you are!" The blond boy's voice was filled with relief, clearly thankful to have found her. He had searched all around the streets surrounding her house before actually making his way up here. Thankfully, there had been no violent acts in motion, so he hadn't been too concerned about her getting caught up in something dangerous. "We've been worried about you!"

"Please leave..."

"Huh?" Adrien's small smile was totally gone now, surprised by what he had heard. Mylene was a gentle person. She wouldn't say something like that to someone, no matter who it was that they were. It just wasn't in her nature. No, something was wrong. Adrien knew it. "Mylene?... What's wrong?"

"Please... I wanna be alone..." It was a struggle for the small girl to hide her tears from her classmate. He was in close proximity to her, and he had a very good eye. Hiding anything from him would be impossible.

"Mylene, you can talk to me you know." Adrien tried to understand why she was so upset, but he couldn't think of any reason as to why. "I - I mean, we're friends, aren't we? You can share what's - "

"How are we friends?" Mylene asked, clearly biting back the tears now. "How can you even think that we're friends?"

"U-Uh..."

"Didn't you even see what I did today?" Mylene was on the verge of shouting, yelling at the poor model who was just trying to help. She couldn't help it anymore though, the words just began to tumble out. "You, Marinette... Ivan... You all we amazing... You all actually could fight! You weren't afraid to fight! And what did I do?! I... I... I hid! I didn't do anything! And somehow I passed too!"

It quickly made sense to Adrien why she was so upset. The truth was, he had never thought of it like that. Not at all. "Mylene..."

"I don't deserve to pass! I shouldn't have passed... Not when you were all so brave..."

"You passed the CFD's Hero course, didn't you?"

A third voice had joined in the conversation now, which made Adrien and Mylene's heads jolt towards the source. Stood on the roof now, was the girl in the red and black outfit the entire town had been talking about - The Vigilante Ladybug.

Without another word, the girl skidded down the tiles and jumped down next to the two teenagers. Shooting a look at Adrien, a look that told him to let her deal with the situation in front of them, and she knelt down by Mylene and patted her on the back. "Congratulations on passing." She then sat right next to Mylene, and watched the cars pass with her.

There was some obvious shock, and even a trace of fear in Mylene's expression. The media had portrayed Ladybug and Chat Noir as Vigilante's, as no better than Villains. Dangerous people who took matters into their own hands, who had no respect of consideration for the law, or the people who were around them. People who needed to be in jail. People who you shouldn't associate yourself with under any circumstances.

"I was scared, you know." Ladybug said, suddenly.

"H-Huh?"

"When I first became Ladybug. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I did something... So impulsive, so stupid... And then ended up becoming a Vigilante that everyone ended up talking about... And I couldn't even begin to think that I could live up to what was now expected of me. That's how you feel right now, right?"

Mylene's head dropped back onto the streets as she let out another sigh, and a small nod of confirmation. She was exactly right.

"When I fought Sunstreak... That Villain... He terrified me." It wasn't a memory Ladybug was proud of. In fact, it was one she was utterly ashamed of. That moment had seen her feeling more useless than she had ever felt in her entire life.

Adrien nodded, although it wasn't seen by anyone. He had also been pretty intimidated by the Villain's Pyrokinetic abilities. The burn marks may be gone now, but he could still feel the flesh burning on his chest. It wasn't the sort of pain you could easily forget.

"I wasn't even able to move... That's how scared I was... And... Chat Noir ended up getting really badly hurt... And he still saved me... And for the longest time... I didn't think I could be a Vigilante... I didn't even think I could be a Hero... Or even someone who could Design clothes for Heroes... I just... I was so pathetic... That's what I thought." Ladybug tilted her head to look at Mylene's. "That's what you're thinking now, isn't it? That you can't be a Hero?"

Mylene just nodded.

"Well you're wrong."

"What?..."

"Your friends... They fought because they cared about you. Because your Trait would be dangerous at that range. They knew that your body wasn't suited to fight Akuma, of all things. You want to become braver, don't you? Then you can't let this be what beats you. How do you think your friends would feel, knowing that you gave up on your dream? I know how I'd feel."

"But..." Mylene tried to argue. "I can't... Do anything..."

"That's not true." Ladybug told her. "You have a very powerful ability, don't you? Push. It's an amazing power, and it's your power. You can do anything with it. It's yours. And when you learn how to control it... you'll never have to be afraid again. That's what the CFD is for, right?"

The words were sincere, and they made sense. Very good sense... Mylene couldn't even really argue with them. They were... Accurate. Very accurate. Of course, logic was asking why and how Ladybug knew what her Trait was… But she ignored it entirely, in favour of admiration.

"Ivan's worried about you." Ladybug told the girl, standing up. "If I were you, I'd give it a shot."

The dreadlocked girl felt her grip around the metallic bars that made up her balcony fences tighten. Maybe... Maybe Ladybug was right. Just maybe... She could try...

"You know... The media... They said you're a bad person. A really dangerous person..."

Ladybug sighed. She had expected such a response to her existence. The society of the world just did not like Vigilantes.

"But... You're really nice, aren't you?"

Adrien just smiled. The respect and love he felt for his lady had just reached an all-time high.

* * *

Within just a few moments, Adrien returned to the party, alongside him, to which everyone cheered for her. Ivan had been so happy to see her, he had just straight up hugged her, apparently not caring for any jokes or embarrassment that would be fired his way. It was heart-warming to see, for Adrien. He had agreed to not tell anyone about her crying, and he fully intended to keep true to that promise. He didn't think he'd be able to bring the current mood down anyway.

Marinette had shown up just a few moments later. According to Alya, she had said she had to run home to get something. What that something was, she hadn't bothered to disclose. She had shown just as much happiness at Mylene's arrival at the party as everyone else had. As her teammate, she must have been concerned about Mylene. That's the conclusion Adrien came to. He couldn't help but smile.

It wasn't long before Nino took to his stand behind his DJ set, and began to play some upbeat tracks, and the majority of the class migrated to the dance floor, fuelled by energy drinks and the knowledge that tonight was the last night they would have in a long time to be able to do something like this.

Adrien said that he needed a minute, as Teleporting so frequently had left his stamina depleted. The only other person who was sitting out was, interestingly enough, Marinette, claiming to not be up to it at the moment. She seemed shy almost. Such a shame to see her pass this up... Armed with an energy drink, Adrien went over to her, standing up tall, and with a smile plastered onto his face. "Hey."

Her eyes widened like a deer in the headlights, and she stuttered out a greeting back, drying her hands of what Adrien assumed to be sweat off in the air around them. "H-Hello!"

"Mind if I sit by you? You seem a bit... On your own here."

"N-Not at all..."

With a happy sigh, Adrien sat down next to the Conversion Trait user, cracked open the aluminium can of caffeinated soft drink, and took a long, long drink of the energy inducing liquid. It was a weird mix of sugary and sour, but not an unwelcome taste. He sighed once more as he finished his gulp, and turned to speak to the blunette girl. "We did good today, you know?"

"H-Huh?"

"Us. You, me, Ivan, Mylene. We did a good job today. We all managed to pass the exams... And we've got another three years together to learn to be Heroes."

Marinette smiled and blushed a little, before looking back down at the floor, unable to look at Adrien's face for too long, lest she make herself any more obvious. "You... You did a really good job..."

"We were a team." Adrien dismissed the complement, taking another drink. He was actually rather fond of the liquid now, letting it slowly make its way down his throat. "You were awesome too. Your Trait really is incredible."

"Do you... Think I can be a Hero?" A slip of the tongue. A minor, unconscious insecurity that Marinette fought on a regular basis, even as Ladybug. And she had been lecturing Mylene on the merits of self-confidence and Heroism just a few minutes ago...

"Huh?"

"It- It's just that..." Marinette tried to stop herself, but she couldn't help it anymore. "I... I've seen... A lot of really... Really strong people recently... A lot of powers... And a lot of people with really impressive talents... And I just thought... Do I really... Really have what it takes to be a Hero in this world? I mean, your powers... They're incredible... And you... You're... So determined while I just chose the Hero Course on a whim... So... "

"You're one of the most Heroic people I've ever met, Marinette." Such honesty from his voice was so apparent, he was practically leaking the stuff. "You can be a Hero, no doubt about that." He hadn't hesitated, not even for a second. But he didn't give her time to reflect on his answer, before he'd chugged down the can of liquid, grabbed her hand and tugged her to the dance patio with the rest of their class, running on the caffeine buzz from the drink. "C'mon! We're only gonna get to do this tonight before we're too busy!"

Fuelled by energy drinks, excitement for the future, and celebrations, Adrien dragged Marinette to the dance patio, and danced alongside her.

He couldn't remember them laughing and smiling as much in all his life.

* * *

The following day was the day every single member of their class had been waiting for. The day where they were finally able to join the Valour and the Elite courses in training. Real training. Combat training. Hero training. The training they had all come to study for.

As the group approached the massive group of students in their gym clothes, Adrien couldn't help but notice two things.

Number one - There had to be at least over a hundred students there, and two, they all looked incredibly unique and vapidly bizarre. Many had physical mutations to their bodies. Some with pale white skin, some with dramatic alterations, such as scales in place of skin, and wings, and dragon like appearances. Skin made of rocks, and markings, and a thousand other additions to the body.

"Looks intimidating..." Nino muttered under his breath.

"I'm excited!" Adrien declared with a smirk. He really was. This was the true test of their abilities as Heroes. Head to head battling.

"Looks like the Heroes finally decided to show up!" A familiar voice from inside the crowd called out to the smaller group of Heroes. A voice both Adrien and Marinette recognized, the hint of the Asian accent, and the tone of which he spoke. The red hair, the black highlight, and the red eyes as well. He looked different in his gym clothes, but they knew who it was the second they saw him.

"Shinuya!" Adrien called out, before his hand was firmly grasped in a handshake by the Japanese student.

"Good to see you again, _Hero_." Shinuya welcomed the blond model with a smirk. He added special emphasis on the word Hero. "So, you passed, huh?"

"Yeah!"

"Welcome to the big leagues." Shinuya's grin grew even bigger. "This is the place you wanna be for some serious combat practice. Today's gonna be team based stuff. Usually is these days. You'll get a shot at some opponents."

Marinette needed to do a double take on what the hell was happening in front of her. She knew Shinuya was a Vigilante, she'd met him when she was Ladybug, and he had introduced her to the Traitor's Vigilante group. If that was the case, how on earth did he know Adrien, and why were they talking like old friends?

"Who's this, Adrien?" Alya questioned, her phone in her hand.

"Oh, this is Shinuya. He helped me that day I left class early. Helped me get to the hospital so I could get treated." Adrien quickly explained to his group of friends. He left out the part about Shinuya being a Vigilante. Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure why Shinuya was being so buddy-buddy with him. Sure, he didn't mind the Japanese teenager, but it wasn't like they were friends. They didn't really know each other well enough. It wasn't unwelcome though.

"Wait, hospital?!" Marinette asked, pushing past Alya. While one question had been answered, another one had rapidly just made itself apparent.

Unfortunately, Marinette had pushed too hard. Her best friend hadn't been expecting the sudden application of force, and suddenly, the phone had slipped straight out of her hand.

Shattering on the floor.

Alya stood there, mortified for a few seconds before she seemed to register that her phone was now in a thousand tiny pieces on the floor. Her fingers suddenly tenses, and she looked like she was about to throttle someone.

"Wow." Shinuya whistled. "That is one expensive phone."

"Oh God!" Marinette bit all her fingers at the same time. "Oh God, oh God, Alya, I'm _so_ sorry!"

It was a very rare event where Alya looked like she wanted to straight up kill Marinette, but this was one of those rare times. The phone was brand new, expensive, and possessed a very powerful Mobile hotspot Wi-Fi signal - Exactly the sort of thing Alya's Trait needed to run at maximum efficiency.

"Chill, I got this." Shinuya told the group, before turning to the large group of Elite's and Valour's students. "Yo, Rex! Can you come help here for a second?"

For a few seconds, no one seemed to move, until a young, pale skinned boy with blue hair began to wander over to the group. He looked a bit younger than the other students, but he stood out like a sore thumb. Everything about him, bar his hair and eyes, was basically white. His eyes seemed to be the most standout feature about him. He had violet sclera, but he had no traditional iris. Instead, in place of where he would have an Iris, was a red cog-like shape. Inside that, was his pupil, black, like a regular Humans. He seemed to be almost artificial.

"What's wrong?" Rex asked, Rex presumably being the name of this individual.

All Shinuya had to do was point at the shattered phone for Rex to understand. He sighed, made a sarcastic comment, and reached out with his palm. Once he did so, the cogs that he had for Iris's began to turn at a high rate, like the pieces of a machine whirring to make the contraption work. in doing so, the phone's scattered pieces began to levitate, and reconstruct themselves back into their original place. The smallest fragments orbited around the pale skinned boy, before fully returning the phone to proper fixed form, landing in his palm, much to the surprise of Alya, and everyone who saw it.

"Take better care of the thing." Rex commented, handing it back to the Broadband Trait user, before returning back to the group. "And for the last time, Shinuya, I'm not your repairman."

"Aw, come on, Rexy-boy!" Shinuya chuckled, displaying a playful side not seen of him before. "You know how clumsy we are!

"Yes. That seems to be quite a prevalent quirk of Humanity, doesn't it?" And with that, Rex was gone, lost in the crowd of students awaiting their instructor to tell them what to do.

"Well... He seems fun." Nino commented.

"I'm so sorry, Alya." Marinette kept apologizing, even after the device was fixed. She also gave her friend a wide berth, not wanting to break the contraption again.

"Just... Be more careful." Alya told her friend, still in shock at what had occurred. She put her phone in her pocket, securing its safety. That had been their first interaction with a member outside their class. Alya wondered, just what the hell sorts of people were they about to deal with?"

The Hero group joined the larger group, but made a point to stick close to the people they knew, even Chloe choosing to do so. They got looks from the Elite's and Valour's, looks that seemed to indicate interest and excitement at the prospect of having new sparring buddies. The sheer number of them was astonishing. Each one of them had a power that was theirs, and theirs alone. An ability that was developed and strong enough to pass the CFD's courses, and throw themselves right to the future.

Their new training mates were to be given a wide berth, until they knew what they were dealing with.

"Alright, settle down." Their teacher for the day, Fuel Tank, suddenly appeared, earning him the sudden silence and respect reserved usually for lieutenants in the military. It was clear that he was admired by many of the students here, but not all of them could hide their grins in anticipation for the day's events. "Okay, first things first kids, you've probably noticed the Hero Course kids have finally decided to grace us with their presence, that's because yesterday, one hundred percent of them managed to pass the Hero curriculum and made it into their first real year or Heroics."

There were a few murmurs of surprise and disbelief at that statement. A One hundred percent success rate?

"That's right. Valour, Elite, Hero, Design, and every other one of your damn classes scored a perfect pass rate also." Fuel Tank informed the students half-heartedly, despite this being news to the Hero course.

Every single person who made it past orientation had passed?!

"So just because you have a year on the Heroes, doesn't mean that you should be taking them any less seriously. Get cocky, and you're fucked." The harsh language surprised the Heroic students, who weren't used to hearing such language from a teacher. "Same to you Heroes too. These guys have been training for a lot longer than you, so come at them with less than a hundred percent, and you're gonna get flattened. All or nothing, right class?"

"All or nothing!" Came the reply from over a hundred other students, excluding the Heroes, whom had no idea that that was coming.

"Good. Exercise today - Search and Destroy." Fuel Tank declared. "You will be put into groups of three, and you will be pitted against another group. Your objective is to find the other group, and defeat them. I'll decide what counts as a defeat, and I won't have any arguments. Your environment? Urban. You'll be put into a building and left to it. There are cameras, so everyone here will be able to see what's happening. You all understand what your task is?"

It was a very easy to understand ruleset. Search and Destroy was a common video game mode, so it didn't need too much explanation. Take out your opponents. Win the match.

Their teacher pulled out a device that would randomly select the names of the students, which would determine the teams for the match. Fuel Tank hit a few buttons, and began to randomly select who would be fighting alongside who in the days exercise. It was a tense moment, especially for the Heroes who barely knew anyone outside their group. It was an opportunity to make a good first impression, and prove to their classmates that they could be useful, and that they weren't to be taken less seriously.

"Group one - Adrien Agreste, Nino Lahiffe, and Tasuka Shinuya."

Adrien and Nino both high fived one another and smirked. They couldn't have asked for a better person to work with in the session. "Alright!"

"So, looks like I'm working with you, huh Agreste?" Shinuya came over quickly, with a smile on his face. The Vigilante's, Ripoff and Chat Noir to fight side by side. Not only was this a stroke of fate, it was an opportunity to prove that the Traitors were worthy combatants.

"Group Two - Rex Alejandro Lightning, Fleisch Quartz, and Kuragari Mushoku"

The members of the opposing group came forward, and Adrien was surprised by the appearances they had. He knew Rex's appearance, but the other two surprised him.

The one called Kuragari was black - Literally. His entire skin was as black as the night, a perfect noir colour, except for two features - His eyes and his teeth, both blood red-scarlet. While it was nearly impossible to tell what part of the teenager was his arm or his leg, his blood red eyes and teeth stood out like sore thumbs. Truly, he had a horrifying appearance.

And the next was Fleisch. He seemed to have claws at the end of each of his fingertips, with the addition of a second thumb, directly opposite the thumb Humans normally have, making his hands individually perfectly symmetrical. Along his arms, were a series of patterns, black in colour, running up to his shoulders, where they seemed to cut off. Aside from that, and his grey eyes, he seemed to look like the average Human, with wildly green hair, and a smirk on his face.

"Hell yeah!" One cry came from the group, apparently from someone who knew the members quite well.

"Diversity Dream Team!" Came another.

"Knock the Heroes down!"

"So... What sort of Traits do they have?" Nino asked Shinua, hoping to gather information on their opponents. After hearing those cries of encouragement, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Traits?" Shinuya craned his head to look at Nino and chuckled "They don't have Traits."

"Then how the heck are they even here?"

Shinuya looked about ready to throw another sarcastic remark at Nino, until he realized that Nino wasn't messing around. Now he was just confused. "Wait, you seriously don't have any non-Humans in the Hero class?"

Nino shook his head.

"Yikes." The Japanese Trait-Absorber sighed. "Well, Kuragari has a Trait. Fleisch and Rex don't."

"You mean?..."

"Yeah. Rex is an Abnormal, and Fleisch is a Primal."


	12. Abnormals and Primals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introduction of the sister species that inhabit the world alongside Humans, the Primals and Abnormals make their debut, and kick it off with a huge display of force.

No one really knew how Humanity ended up splitting into two separate species, other than the fact that they just sort of did. When the era of Traits first began, roughly three thousand years ago, the initial spread was slow, gradual, barely even noticeable if you had no idea that powers were spreading throughout the population. Many people who developed their powers hid in shame of them. A common theory for the rise of Primals during this time was thanks to that shame, that secrecy of their abilities. Had they been open about them, many of them would have most certainly been killed out of discrimination or prejudice.

Whatever the case, Humanity and Primals evolved side by side. Both kept their overall homo-sapien appearances, with one exception. Primal's all had large, detailed, random markings down their arms, similar to those of a tattoo. The patterns were random, but permanent. Should the skin be torn off, the new layer would replicate the pattern exactly. Because a Human or Primal could have a Trait that dramatically affected their appearance, this is one of the only ways to tell the two species apart. Further difference was added in that Primals often had more animalistic tendencies, but this was not unique to them, as many Humans have animalistic characteristics too. The percentage for Primals is simply higher.

Along with this, Primals also possessed their own equivalent to Traits, which they called Primalities. Functionally, they were the exact same as Traits, with one exception - They were far weaker than Traits. More specifically, they were exactly half as strong as a Trait. Should a Human and Primal Pyrokinetic do battle, based on their powers alone, the Human was the far most likely contender to be victorious.

Evolution didn't discriminate, however. To compensate for their weaknesses, Primals had an advantage over Humans - Naturally, they were far stronger, durable, and agile than their Human counterparts. With a continuous workout regime, they could become far stronger than Humans could physically, without the use of their Traits. In fact, Primals at their base strength were often on par with a Humans peak strength. These differences an integral of their biology, Primals were able to stand on equal footing with Humanity.

Abnormals, however, were another story.

They were native to the recently discovered continent of Senshi, located in the Atlantic Ocean, hidden away by masters of Illusion and land manipulation. Legend stated that Humanity was unable to discover the continent because when the Abnormal species first came into being, an individual who possessed great powers was able to raise the ocean floor level, adding onto the tiny island that the population lived on. Whether or not this was reliable information was still up for debate, but what wasn't was that Abnormals were a relatively new species on the face of the planet, being only four hundred years old. For reasons scientists were unable to explain, the natives of Senshi never developed any Traits or Primalities.

This meant that Abnormals were the only confirmed species on Earth to develop their powers naturally, as a biological part of their evolution. For Humans and Primals, the most common theory was that a virus from outer space infected the Humans on Earth thousands of years ago, which caused the first superpowers to develop, but this has never been proven. Abnormals do have a confirmed origin, however. Due to thousands of years of fighting, Humans evolved to better survive and fight in the near endless combat that wrecked Senshi at all times. This new species became known as Abnormals, due to their inhumane abilities and appearances. In Senshi, genetic mutations were frowned upon, but in reality, anyone who had one was an Abnormal. This extended to things such as Heterochromia, or even something as minor as freckles, or having slightly thicker skin.

Another unique thing about the Abnormal species was the fact that they possessed a wide variety of powers. Humans and Primals typically only possessed one Superpower, excluding those with the Dual Trait mutation, whereas Abnormals, up to five powers was not uncommon. Electrokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, all very possible for one member of the young species to possess. While they were individually weaker than a Trait, their versatility more than made up for it. Additionally, Abnormals were naturally stronger, more durable, and had greater reflexes than the average Human, but less so than the average Primal.

At least, that was the extent of what Adrien knew about the differences between the three sentient species. Some theorized that there were more species on the planet that had not yet been discovered or unveiled. That some even remained hidden from the rest of the world intentionally, so as not to be called attention towards, for fear of prejudice. Given the infinite possibilities that their world held, it wasn't an unrealistic thing to believe in. Adrien liked to think that this was the case too sometimes. It helped make the world that bit more interesting.

But Adrien pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. Right now, his opponents were a Human, a Primal, and an Abnormal. Each of the selected students stepped forward with their groups, and were led to the zone in which they would be doing battle. The remainder of their classmates all entered a large room, fitted with an enormous television screen, of which they would be watching the many fights to take place throughout the day. It would serve as an excellent study post, since they would be able to learn about the skills, tactics, and powers of everyone who went to fight today.

Adrien had never fought an Abnormal before, nor had he ever fought a Primal. Statistically, he knew that there had to be some in the CFD, but he hadn't expected such a large number of them. According to Shinuya, they were actually rather common, and he had probably interacted with several without even noticing. He’d only ever met a few Primals and Abnormals in his life. While they had integrated with Human society well, there was a certain feeling of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ when it came to this sort of thing. Only people who were close and trusting enough of one another really knew the species of their friends. Many Primals wore T-shirts, however, exposing their markings for all to see. It largely was a personal choice of if you wanted to express your pride, or if you preferred to be humble about your species.

"So... You wanna be a Hero too, huh?" Nino suddenly asked Kuragari, getting a look Adrien couldn't even begin to describe from the red eyed Human. Honestly, you would have to be crazy to not be intimidated by the Elite course student.

"Of course." Kuragari responded. "Why wouldn't I want to be?"

"You don't look like one is all." To be fair, he didn't. Kuragari looked like something straight out of a comic book, the sort of person you would expect to be the Villain of the story. His appearance just screamed evil, intimidation, and fear. It was the media demonization that made the Heroes look rugged and handsome, and the Villain's diabolical and deteriorated, whereas the real world was never that black and white.

If it wasn't for the sheer lack of reflective colours that his skin had, it would have been clear that his hands became a tightly clenched, firm fist by his side. "I guess we'll see, won't we?" The black skinned teenager gave a smirk that showed a glimpse of his blood red teeth, before he leaned away to join his group, to discuss strategy, most likely.

Shinuya looked at Nino and sighed, running his left hand through his black highlight and though his natural red hair, he hissed to himself. A sharp inhale through his barely open mouth, and his eyelids now tightly shut, as if he was expecting something to punch him in the face. "Great. Now you've pissed off Kuragari."

"Huh? He seemed chill."

"No, believe me. Kuragari despises people making assumptions about his appearance. He's frickin livid right now, Hero, trust me. He's gonna be coming after you."

Nino looked worried. He hadn't meant to offend the Elite course student, not in the slightest. Adrien knew that, Nino just wasn't the sort of person who would want to intentionally upset anyone. He just had a bit of a habit of not thinking things through before he said them.

He hadn't gotten the chance to apologize before the two groups were told to head off in separate directions.

* * *

 

They had come to what appeared to be a sort of warehouse, one in about a thousand. With up to five floors on said warehouse, and each about the size of an apartment complex floor, finding the other group would be a challenge in itself, of that there would be no doubt. Adrien noted how dark and dystopian the place looked. It was very obvious that they had made no effort to make this look like a place people actually lived. The walls were brazen and grey, with cracks from the heat on the concrete. They hadn't even bothered to paint the walls. This was a place to train, not a decorative piece. There was no point wasting time to make it look pretty.

As Adrien considered this, a loudspeaker system made an announcement that every student outside the broadcast room would be able to hear very clearly. Fuel Tank's voice echoed throughout the empty streets and functionless buildings. "Group One shall be entering from a ground based position, whereas Group Two shall be gaining access from the rooftops. Your objective, once again, is to Search and Destroy your opponents. No death shots, we don't want a freakin' lawsuit cause you people were idiots. Wait for your go-ahead."

Simple enough.

"Okay, since we're working together, we need to know what we can all do." Shinuya declared. Both Adrien and Nino faced Shinuya, nodding their heads. After the trials of yesterday, they knew that knowledge about your teammates was essential to make sure that the workload was dished out evenly and fairly. "My Trait is called Trait Absorption. Basically I have a one in one-hundred chance to copy someone else's Trait if I make physical contact with them, and a one-in-a-millionth chance to permanently copy their Trait, absorbing it as part of my biology. So far, I have three permanent Traits. I can control my own blood, I can cause it to explode, and I have a healing factor."

Shinuya possessed an interesting Trait, of that Adrien couldn't even begin to doubt. Blood manipulation, exploding blood, and the ability to heal, all from one-in-a-million chances to copy them? He certainly had a diverse set of powers.

Adrien then explained his Dual Trait to the two of them, although Nino already knew about his powers very well. Shinuya commented about how Adrien's powers made him a painfully obvious close-range fighter, meaning he was going to be in the thick of the fight, whether he liked it or not.

"My Trait is Hydrokinesis." Nino said. "S'called that, but I can control pretty much anything if it's in a liquid form. Only restrictions on it are that it doesn't work on blood, and it can't come from me. Plus, I can't create it."

"Those are... Pretty annoying limitations." Shinuya muttered. "How about water molecules? Can you gather those?"

"What, like vapour? Yeah, I can grab that." As he confirmed this, Nino gathered the nearby water vapour around them, and palmed it within his right hand, the liquid flowing around his dark skin. It glistened in the sunlight. While it wasn't a large amount, it was a theoretically infinite amount. It wouldn't cease to exist once used, simply disperse, and could be recollected by the water controlling boy.

"Okay, that's a lot more to work with." Shinuya sighed. Being a member of the Elite course, and a Vigilante, he was very capable of directing multiple people in a combat situation. He glanced between the two students. Knowing Adrien was Chat Noir, he was far more willing to give the blond boy the more dangerous tasks. He had faith. "Okay, Adrien, you've got the most mobility out of all of us. You should be the scout. Don't be a Hero and go off on your own. We're gonna need to work as a unit to beat these guys."

"Got it."

"Nino, you're our vanguard. Watch our backs. Your Trait should be pretty good to help give us some distance when we need it."

"Sure thing, dude."

“I’ll take centre stage.” Shinuya declared. “My powers give me the best reaction time for whatever situation we find ourselves in.”

* * *

 

"I'm gonna beat that Hero within an inch of his damn life."

Group Two had been elevated to the rooftop of the building via a contraption that resembled a window cleaning platform. The Abnormal, Primal and Human had all dispersed onto the rooftop, gathering at the centre. Kuragari was visually the angriest person there, and considering his teeth and eyes were really the only to tell what emotions he was experiencing, that spoke volumes about the phantom-like Human.

"Typical Human anger." Rex commented flatly, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. He was fully aware of the strength Kuragari possessed. Of everyone in the Elite class, he was considered one of the five members that made a case for being the strongest in the entire class. He possessed a very powerful Trait. The only issue was that he was a very emotionally driven individual. Rex disliked this, as he saw it as arrogant. The idea that Kuragari though he could take out his opponents alone was downright stupid, particularly in a three versus three situation. All it would take was one mistake, and it wouldn't matter how powerful his Trait was. He would be defeated. "Please, inform me as to what you think going off alone is going to accomplish."

"Get lost." Kuragari shot back at the Abnormal with venom. "I never said I was going to go off alone."

"You intend to, quote, ' _Beat him within an inch of his damn life._ ' Our objective is to defeat the opposing team, not injure them. Beating him would imply you intend to use more force than required, a task impossible when in a heated battle. So one can only assume that you don't intend to fight alongside us, but rather, you intend to take on the Hero Course student one-to-one, weakening our chances of success as a whole." Brushing his blue hair out of the way of his stand-out red cog-resembling eyes, he glared at the Human, a confident grin on his face. "Stop me if I'm getting any of this wrong."

Fleisch stood away from the group, allowing his teammates to get their little spat over with. He was busy preparing himself for the upcoming battle. He indulged a small bit however, and egged on the Human. "Yeah, he's got you there, Kuragari." After receiving the glare of death from the intimidating teenager, Fleisch covered up his smirk and went back to checking his arms for any muscle tissue that looked damaged that could be a hindrance to him in a fight. With a shrug, he defended himself. "I'm just sayin'."

"Well don't. You don't get how irritating it gets to just be assumed that you're a Villain based on how you look." It was a prejudice Kuragari was used to, but utterly despised. He couldn't stand people who assumed the worst of him simply due to his intimidating appearance. He wanted to be a Hero just as much as anyone else did. What about his appearance should prevent him from doing that?

"No, my species just had to deal with a genocide attempt." Rex commented, dry as the Sahara desert. "At the hands of your species, funnily enough, Human. Say what you like about us, but at least we don't try to eradicate a species of sentient beings because we're a little bit uncomfortable around them." After seeing Kuragari visually flinch, Rex knew he had won the argument. Like he always did. Sighing, he said, "If you want to take out the Hero, then get it over with and rejoin us. Objectively, an early elimination of one of our opponents puts us at a large advantage. Eliminate, not obliterate. Defeat the enemy, and then regroup to aid us take out the remaining targets. No unrequired bloodshed."

Before a response was warranted, the loudspeaker system shot into life again, Fuel Tanks voice coming through clear and commanding once more. "Your preparation time is up! Get to it!"

Fleisch slapped his knees, and shot upright, his two-thumbed hands in a claw-like gesture, and the sharp nails that came from his Primal heritage extended from his fingertips. The mop that was his messy green hair, his natural colour of course, covered his hazel coloured left eye, and his yellow teeth clear as he grinned. "Time to have some fun."

* * *

 

The large screen television that was being used to monitor all the action that was about to go down was something that seriously impressed Marinette. The screen was split into several camera viewpoints within itself, each of them in 4K resolution, allowing for crystal clear imagery of the events going down on the battlefield. There was no doubt that setting up this sort of system cost an absolute fortune, most likely paid for by the French Government. It was no secret that they were actively invested in helping the CFD train the next generation of Heroes. Both philosophically and literally. Apparently all the money went into that set up though, since the room was pretty bare, and there wasn't any central heating involved whatsoever.

Additionally, the room they were situated within was incredibly large, nearly the same size as the gym hall that Marinette's junior school had. Obviously they had to accommodate for any students that possessed growth Traits, or had a body that was naturally large. Fitting in over a hundred students into this wasn't a challenge whatsoever. It didn't seem like it would have been hard to fit in a radiator or something in here to heat the place up, at least not to Marinette.

Each student sat along several pews, the one at the front being the lowest, and the one at the back being the highest. Marinette, Alya and Mylene wound up sitting on the lowest one, alongside most of their classmates. One or two strangers managed to make their way into their ranks, but since the Hero course students outnumbered them, it didn't seem to matter all that much. Each seat had a clear view of the screen, and was able to watch what was going down, as it went down.

"Whaddya think, Mari?" Alya asked her blue haired friend. "Who's gonna win this fight?"

While she wanted to say she believed in Adrien, the truth of the matter was, she knew nothing about the powers, or the combat abilities, of Adrien's opponents. It stood to reason that he was at a large disadvantage since he couldn't predict his enemy's movements. Sure, Adrien was a very good fighter - Probably one of the best she'd ever seen, Chat Noir rivalling in at a close second, perhaps a hint of confirmation bias affecting her judging there - But when he had no idea what was coming, it would be hard to maintain that confidence and composure. Traits, Abnormalities, Primalities, they were so random and so unique, that it was impossible to guess what a person could do just by looking at them. So trying to guess the outcome of the match?... "I... I don't know."

"Wrong answer." Alya's confident answer and smile caused Marinette to turn to face her grinning friend. The tech savvy girl had balled her hand into a fist and was looking as determined as Marinette had ever seen her. There didn't seem to be a doubt in her mind at all. "Adrien's gonna win this!"

"H-How are you so sure?"

"He's the best fighter in our class for one! You've seen him in action! Seriously girl, if you're gonna marry the guy, learn to have a little faith in him!" Her comment did not fail in the slightest bit to make her friend start blushing like a maniac, just as intended. The sight caused the Broadband Trait user to grin that bit more.

Suddenly, heat was the last thing that Marinette was thinking about. Her face could probably be used as a grill right now, that was how warm her face felt. Her hands attempted to cover her blush, but it had only limited effect. Still, when she thought about it, Alya did have a valid point. Adrien was her friend, right? They were at least on good enough terms to consider one another friends, weren't they? So, as his friend, she should have more faith in him, right?

She'd punch Alya's shoulder later on. And make sure that it showed a bruise.

"Alright you little shits, listen up." Fuel Tanks harsh manner of speaking came through once again. Marinette wondered, how on earth had he even become a teacher with such a loose manner of speaking? "This isn't an opportunity for you to have a social gathering and to catch up and chat about the latest superhero film. This should be an opportunity for you to observe and learn."

"What're we looking out for?" A student at the back of the class called out and asked.

"Weaknesses. Strategies. Methods of combating an opponent with a power that is effective against your own, to name just a few." Fuel Tank commented. "You all have limits to your powers. Restrictions as to what you can do. And that limits you as to what you can do. Meaning you're weak to certain things, where others might be stronger."

That was a very true statement, Marinette thought to herself. When it came to her power, she was a very good defender. She could fortify a position, and defend it like a master. But that did leave her fairly weak when it came to attacking. It was probably the weakest aspect that she had when it came to her Trait.

"So, you should look for what people who are good at the aspects you are weak to." Fuel Tank continued. "Learn from them. Get ideas on how to improve your combat style. Study your classmates. They're basically a cheat-sheet on legs. Use them."

"He... Makes sense." Mylene muttered to herself. She seemed to look at her hands, like she was trying to figure out something she could do with the incredibly powerful Trait that inhabited her body. Marinette remembered her lack of confidence in her ability. How she had had to convince the girl to even be here today. She was considering what she could do with her power. It was a shame that she was so timid, because if she could force herself to push through that fear she felt, her brute strength wouldn't be anything to laugh at.

"You okay, Mylene?" Alya asked. Alya didn't know about the self-confidence issues that the dreadlocked girl faced. To her, it looked like Mylene was just freaking out over nothing, or had something else on her mind than the current task.

"I-I'm okay... Don't worry." Mylene lied. Marinette would have said something, had she not reminded herself that Ladybug was the one who had given Mylene the pep talk last night. She scowled. There had to be something that she could do to help her classmate out...

Fuel Tank grabbed a microphone that was on the desk in front of the large screen television setup. Marinette would have to think about what could be done to help Mylene later on. Right now, she wanted to watch the fight. Fuel Tanks words repeated themselves over the loudspeaker system just outside. "Your preparation time is up! Get to it!"

* * *

 

Group Two began their entry into the warehouse building. The floor was designed to look roughly like what you would expect an apartment building to look like, with multiple doors, rooms, all leading into what would be a miniature home within a bigger building. It was an empty vessel of the real thing. A soulless shell, but practical for the current exercise. They didn't have to worry about destroying someone's flat screen TV or Xbox in this sort of environment, not that anyone would really think twice about destroying such things to defeat a Villain.

Fleisch was at the front of the party, and judging by how his hands twitched every time they entered a room, he was anxious to get into some combat. Anyone who knew the wily teen knew that he had a love of combat, and a massive hatred of losing. He was competitive to the very backbone. That was the only reason he was even training to be a Hero. To get into some good fights. He'd taken up the lead position to get into a fight sooner, and had done so quite happily. "Come on out, wherever you are..."

"This is getting tedious." Kuragari muttered under his breath. He'd agreed to remain with his group until they discovered the opposing team, whereupon he'd take the opportunity to pick off his target while no one was aware. Even so, that wasn't preventing him from becoming irritated. "Rex, can't you hack into the camera feeds to check where they are?"

The Abnormal nodded. "If you watch this hunk of flesh while I do that."

"Piece of cake." Fleisch nodded. His arm was beginning to glow, and almost flow into an orangey translucent colour. "Just find me a target to batter already!"

Agreeing to do so, Rex sat Indian style against a wall, and in view of a camera. This camera would be connected to a screen somewhere else that was watching this group, and presumably the other group. All of the points would meet up in one location, like a web network, all points leading to one central point. From there, all he would need to do was pinpoint where their opponents were, and then it would be a simple matter of taking care of the rest.

"Okay. I'm transferring my consciousness now." Was the short warning Rex gave, before his head flopped, his mind now inside the technology.

Rex Alejandro Lightning - Abnormality - Technology - Rex's Abnormalities all relate to technology.  
Technopathy - He is a Technopath, capable to manipulating technology to do whatever he desires. Combined with his genius levels of intellect, he is easily capable of creating powerful technologies from very basic ones. However, he can only do this with electronical objects, and cannot manipulate machinery. He is also limited to what is around him.  
Digital Form - Additionally, he also is able to transfer his consciousness into any technology that he desires, with a power he calls Digital Form, essentially turning his mind into pure data which he can use to gather information, which he can process as fast as the process of the device he is inhabiting allows him to. With this, he is capable of travelling via transmissions, such as Wi-Fi connections, emails, etc. While in this state, viruses, malware, and firewalls have no effect on him. However, his physical body is left totally defenceless.  
Electrify - He is also capable of covering his body in electricity, and discharging it. However, he is not capable of directing where this energy goes, meaning he must be careful to not be around allies when he lets out a high voltage. Overuse of this power will short-circuit his nervous system, leaving him unable to move.  
Like all Abnormals, he has great reflexes, and impressive durability.

Processing all this information at once was done in mere moments thanks to the high specs that the CFD School had. Rex was able to see a hundred different places at once, as if he were staring out of the broadcasting system itself. Every inch of movement that any camera in the building picked up, he also picked up on.

Including the location of Group One. They were far closer than he expected them to be. At least on the bright side, Fleisch would be happy about that. He could see that the blond male student was a Teleporter, and that he was serving as the groups scout. A logical choice, no doubt made by Shinya. He was in the centre of the group. Another rational choice. And at the back was the boy who had earned Kuragari's ire.

Good. That made this easy then.

Leaving the digital world was always a bit of a shock to the Abnormals system. Getting used to being back inside a physical body with blood, flesh and organs always felt like a prison in comparison to the freedom that the wires, wavelengths and processors offered him. He always felt squishy afterwards. He woke back up in his body with a start, banging his head against the wall as he awoke. "Ow! God Damn it..."Clutching the impact site, Rex made a mental note to remember not to sit against a wall whenever he used Digital Form.

"Find what you were looking for?" Fleisch questioned the group's de-facto leader without even looking at him. Rex noted that the Primal's flesh was still in that bubbly opaque state.

Ignoring the fact that no one even bothered to ask if he was okay, Rex stood up. He hated having to do physical activity after returning from cyberspace, but he managed it. While it may have seemed longer for him, Rex had only been in the digital world for about ten seconds. His ability to process information worked at a rapid rate, allowing him to gather information at the near speed of light. He began to relay all of the information that he had been able to gather. "They're directly below us. Third floor, two floors straight down. The blond one is a Teleporter."

"Directly below us, huh?" The Primal teenager tapped the floor beneath him with his foot. With a grin, the opaque semi-liquid arms he possessed suddenly expanded and enlarged above his head. One of his large arms came clean off his body, towering over him. To top it all off, the semi-transparent flesh began to sharpen and harden at its more jagged edges, trimming just a few strands of green hair from Fleisch. His grin had evolved into a toothy beam, his eyes now focused on the ground, judging just how much power he'd need to put in to smash a hole below him. "That works for me."

* * *

 

Adrien hadn't expected Shinuya's Trait to manifest in the way it did. When he had explained that he possessed the ability to control his blood, and to also make it explode, he wasn't entirely sure what he had expected. What he knew he hadn't been expecting though was for the Vigilante to have a series of tendrils from various points of his body, representing an octopus almost. These tendrils were red, and according to Shinuya, were made up of his blood.

The way the Japanese teenager claimed his Haemokinesis power worked was that all along his body, he had very tiny holes that opened up whenever he desired to gather an amount of blood to manipulate. When enough of it leaked from his system, he would close those holes to prevent further blood loss. Bloodstains simply did not exist on his white clothing, since he lifted out every atom of blood from the clothing.

That was all fine. Adrien thought it was a bit creepy, and it may disturb those with Trypophobia, but for the most part, it was a reasonable explanation.

What he hadn't been expecting was when they began to turn orange. According to Shinuya, whenever a portion of his blood turned orange, that meant it was lined with explosive Nitroglycerine, which, upon impact, would cause an explosion. Something about the colour of the blood made Adrien feel ill. Maybe it was because he knew that this wasn't a natural part of Shinuya's biology, and the idea of someone else's blood having wormed into his bloodstream made him uneasy. Yet it wasn't possible to deny, it made very versatile attack. His healing factor even replenished his blood for him rapidly. It was like he had a perfect set up of Traits that interacted with one another seamlessly, eradicating a number of weaknesses and boosting up their strengths.

"At first contact, we should focus on taking out Rex. Since he's an Abnormal, he probably poses the biggest threat to us. I'm not even totally sure what he can do." Shinuya told his group, attempting to convey as much information as he possibly could to his team before they came into contact with the enemy. He would be lying if he said he wasn't doing this in part to try to convince Adrien that the Traitors were a group that knew what they were doing, but from a more immediate standpoint, he really did not feel like having the ever loving crap kicked out of him today.

"Target the Abnormal. Easy." Adrien nodded. With his Teleporting powers, he could get in close and smack down Rex before he even knew what had hit him in the face and thrown him out a window. Turning to his best friend with a smile, Adrien prepared to make a comment about how Nino would get to see his altruism in action.

But the words never came out of his mouth. Instead, his eyes widened, jaw dropped, and focus shifted.

Behind Nino, extruding from the cold, barren walls, was a shadow-like figure towering over Nino, who was still facing away from the figure behind him. Hands posed, ready to swipe Nino away, fingers curves and rigid. A set of blood red eyes with no iris or pupil, and a set of teeth that looked like they were made of blood. The grin on the coal-black skinned individual aided him in hiding in the shadows.

Adrien was only able to see this because of the terrifying crimson eyes.

Kuragari.

"Huh?" Nino glanced at Adrien like his friend had seen a ghost. He had no idea just how right he was.

Kuragari Mushoku - Trait - Intangibility - Kuragari possesses the ability to phase through solid matter and objects by passing his atoms through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which he is moving. By doing this, he is completely capable of passing through walls, floors, and even other people. He is incredibly skilled with this power, and can selectively make particular parts of his body Intangible at any one time. For example, he can make his entire body intangible, excluding his fist, which could then still be used to attack his opponents. He can remain in this state for up to sixty seconds at any one time before he has to revert to a solid state. If he reaches this limit, he cannot use his power for sixty seconds. However, if he stops using his power at fifty-nine seconds, his timer resets. It is because of this Trait that his skin is an unreflective colour, giving him his pitch black trademark. No explanation has yet been made for his red eyes and teeth.

As soon as the blond model realized who the demon was, Kuragari clasped his hands over Nino's mouth, muffling his surprised yells and calls for help, and wrapped his free forearm across the Hydrokinetic's throat, limiting his breathing ability, and pulled them both through the wall he was phasing through.

And then they were just gone.

"Nino!" Adrien called for his friend out of sheer shock and surprise, his brain still registering what it had just seen. He barely even had the time to focus on Nino's disappearance. One second he had been there, and the next, he was gone. Adrien was unable to even understand what had just happened before he had another, more pressing matter to attend to.

What was that noise?

Acting on instinct, Adrien Teleported upon hearing what he could only describe as a rumble above his head. A few seconds later, a huge crack slit the ceiling in half, shattering the concrete above head, and creating a small pile of destroyed material on the floor in front of the quick thinking Teleporter.

Dust and debris hovered in the air for a short while after the initial collapse, making it impossible to see anything clearly. Thick enough to cut with a knife, Adrien was basically blind, but he was able to make out a figure in the gloom. Stood atop the pile that he had just ridden down upon triumphantly, and with one right arm, and his left gone, instead, lumps of meat hovering around his person, as if they were in direct orbit around the Primal himself.

It was Fleisch. The Primal.

"Peekaboo." He joked, his figure becoming clearer and he spoke. Surprisingly, he didn't have a scratch on him, although his hair was now far more unkempt than it already was. It was only now that Adrien was able to see the large muscles that he toted, a natural part of his biology. It was unlikely that he had worked out to achieve them like Adrien had had to, but he was clearly a very strong individual, just by looking at his outline through the dust.

Adrien wasn't sure what it was that made him charge at his opponent without thinking. Perhaps it was panic. Maybe he felt that he had to make the first move before he and Shinuya were obliterated. Maybe he was just worried about Nino. Maybe he wasn't thinking straight. Whatever the reason was, Adrien Teleported in an instant, reappearing at a large clump of flesh hovering at the foot of the mountainous pile.

For some reason, he knew exactly what it was. Perhaps his battle instinct had kicked in on automatic. Or maybe it was because what he was doing felt eerily familiar... He never quite figured out how he knew it was a hunk of meat, but he knew for sure... "If this is just flesh..."

"Adrien, no!" He heard Shinuya call for him, but he couldn't even begin to heed the warning. His brain wouldn't keep up. It refused to.

"...Then I can destroy it!" With that, his right hand turned to charcoal black, and he swung an open palmed strike at the flesh. Pushing every single one of his muscles into the strike for maximum impact, and yelling as loud as he could, Adrien slammed his open palm into the amalgamation of meat at full force.

It sunk.

His hand became trapped in the substances opaque, gelatine-like mass. His Destruction Trait did nothing to de-atomize the absorbing flesh, for God knew what reason, but Adrien suddenly found himself with a hand firmly stuck within the substance, whatever it was made of. Adrien suddenly found himself trying to pry his right arm free, to no avail. He dared not put his left hand anywhere near the flesh, for fear that he would lose the access to his one remaining arm. "What the hell?!"

If that wasn't bad enough, suddenly, the flesh began to move up his arm, slowly encasing his limb with the orange liquid. If it wasn't obvious to Adrien before, then it was now - It was being controlled by Fleisch. Was this the power that the Primal had? The ability to control his flesh in this state?

Whatever it was, it was moving. And it was about to encase him.

"You've got a nice amount of muscle on your arms, don't you?" Fleisch suddenly asked with a smirk. "You ain't skinny at all. You're pretty well built for someone our age. For a Human, anyway... I think I'll add that to my arsenal. Or better yet - I'll just add you to it!"

What could only be described as a tidal wave of flesh began to tower over Adrien. He attempted to Teleport, but it was no use. Whatever this flesh was made out of, it was suppressing his ability to Teleport somehow. He tried to use his Destruction Trait, but nothing happened to the mountain of meat that was about to encase him. He tugged, pulled, and tried desperately to get out of the horrendous predicament he was in.

To no avail.

He was trapped.

"Watch it!"

Before Adrien was fully capable of understanding how, Shinuya had thrown himself at the Hero student with intense speed, grabbing the blond model by his vest, and ripping him away from the Primal's encroaching power. The Trait Absorber had used the Explosive Blood powers he had to propel himself at Adrien, slamming the red and orange tendrils into the ground behind him, causing them to detonate and giving him a desperately needed speed boost. It had been a close shave - Very close. Without the Explosive Blood, Shinuya wouldn't have made it. A second later, and Adrien would have been totally absorbed by the sentient pile of meat.

But something had happened. Something that Adrien couldn't help but gape at.

His right arm.

It had been ripped right out of its socket.


	13. Group One's Counterattack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Adrien's loss, he and his group plan to counterattack their opponents.... With what little they can.

One more strike to the face left Nino's head spinning like a dreidel. How many hits had that made now? Forty? Fifty? Was he even counting at this point? He had no idea. Was there a reason he was trying to keep count? God knew. A knee strike shot the small amount of oxygen he had left in him right out with a blood filled cough. As he tried to gather more air into his lungs, his face was gripped by a night black palm, and slammed against the wall he was being beaten against.

Trying to gather liquid here was absolutely fruitless. He'd managed to pool a small glop of water in his palms, and fired it at the highest force he could muster against this pure black figure with demonic red eyes, but it had just phased right through him, like he wasn't even there. He. It. Whatever this person was. Kuragaro? Was that his name? Korogaru? Did it even matter at this point?

What the hell was he even thinking? Nino's mind was in absolute shambled right now, the only real thing he could focus on was the pain each and every strike seemed to fill him with. Sure, it beat getting writhed in flames, but this wasn't exactly fun. There wasn't much he could do, due to his own inability to generate water, or control his own blood. What use was mastery over all liquids if you couldn't even use your own liquids to fight?

One second, He'd been looking at Adrien, about to ask him why he looked like he did when they first watched Alien together, and the next, he could taste blood coming from the multitude of cuts inside his mouth. His head hurt. His stomach hurt. A creature that looked like a shadow, with blood red eyes and teeth was wailing on him without remorse.

All because Nino had made one offhanded comment. One he hadn't meant any offense by.

The truth was, he'd meant it in the opposite manner as it had come out. Kuragari - He was convinced that was his name - Did look like a Villain, there wasn't any way to get around that fact. And there was no doubt that he had been told that. Many, many times throughout his childhood. That at many points, he was accused of wrongdoings he never committed, based on the appearance he had. Nino had thoughts of him being accused of being a thief in stores, even when he hadn't touched anything.

And here he was.

Trying to become a Hero.

"You want a Villain, do ya?!" Kuragari yelled, striking Nino's jaw once more.

The world wanted to call him a Villain. But Kuragari was here to prove them wrong. He wanted to show that he could help people. That he could be a Hero, and prove everyone wrong. That had to be the reason why he was here, didn't it?

And even here, someone had made the comment of him looking like a Villain.

Nino couldn't blame the guy for losing his shit like this. The same thing had happened to Nino when people learned how limited his Trait was. How he couldn't hope to be a Hero if his power didn't let him create his own water. How he would be useless without other Heroes there to back him up. How he should be a lifeguard, and put his Trait to better use. Use that was better suited for someone who couldn't even generate the elements they wielded.

And look where he was now. A proud member of the Hero course. Why was he here? The honest reason? He had wanted to prove those people wrong. That he could become a Hero with this power of his, no matter how limited it was.

"Damn Hero!" An elbow strike to the cheek.

Not exactly as romantic of an image as people made it out to be. As it turned out, Heroism wasn’t always a straight line towards victory. Often times, it really freaking hurt.  But it was why he was here. To prove the people who mocked him and how power were wrong. That he could be someone people could rely on to help them, even if he was at a disadvantage.

So he felt shame that he couldn't be there when Adrien and Shinuya were obviously going to need him.

Having exerted every bit of energy he had in him, his breathing had turned heavy, and ragged, Kuragari let Nino drop, the dark skinned teenager falling to his knees, and then flat on his face, not making any effort to stop gravity from slamming his face into the ground. He almost felt numb to the pain now. Like his body had shut down his sense of touch to prevent him from going insane with the pain.

"Fucking... Prick..." Kuragari rasped, taking deep breaths between the gasps. He began to walk away, hurling abuse at Nino as he left the beaten teen to his own devices, considering him defeated. "I'm not... A Villain... Got it?... I'm gonna be... A Raider... And show you..."

A Raider...

The Raiders were a very elite group of Heroes. Best of the best. Elite of the Elite. They specialized in hostage rescue, and in Villain suppression. Heavy combat. Very dangerous roles in this sort of line of work. And what was more, you couldn't apply to join them. They came to you. To want to join them...

"You're a joke."

The footsteps stopped, as Nino knew they would.

"The Raiders? Hah... You're kidding, right?" This was a very dangerous bridge to be burning, and Nino knew it perfectly well, but there wasn't anything else he could do. Doing nothing would be leaving Adrien and Shinuya to deal with this guy, and he didn’t know if they could take this guy right now, and gathering water wasn’t going to work against this guy…. What else could he do?

He wasn't going to be able to re-join his allies in the fight any time soon. He was too badly beaten up. And even if he was able to join the fight, there wasn't going to be a single thing he could do against the Intangibly Trait user in front of him. He might as well not have a Trait.

But what he could do... Was he could stall for time.

"What makes you think that the Raiders are gonna want someone who loses their cool over an offhanded comment?" Nino shot insults at Kuragari's pride, knowing full well that he wasn't going to let them go unanswered. Without the Human thinking, the footsteps returned, coming ever closer to Nino. He pressed further. "Someone who loses their mind over a comment like that... Hah! You'd be as much use as an ice cube is against an avalanche!"

He felt himself being picked up, and slammed against the wall once more. Doing so made him violently cough up blood, but he didn't even feel much pain from it anymore. In front of him he saw the face of someone livid beyond comprehension, and in a way, Nino sympathized with him. But he was an enemy right now. He would apologize later.

"I'm gonna enjoy beating you down." Kuragari spat. The silhouette that may or may not be his hand opened up, preparing to fire off a flurry of open-palm strikes.

Nino just smiled.  _'How is this for catching up with your selfless habits, Adrien?'_  He thought, remembering back to the previous day. How Adrien's altruistic habits got him into the CFD. And how Adrien had jokingly told him to catch up. Nino felt that this qualified. ' _Good luck, buddy. Hope you win this for us... Cause I'm not gonna be much help after this.'_

* * *

 

There certainly had been a mood change for the students who had watched the battle unfold in front of them, particularly for the students in the Hero Course. Jaws dropped, and eyes shot wide open. The majority couldn't even comprehend what had just happened in front of them as they watched it happen. The speed of it had gone by way too quick for anyone to be able to confidently say what they saw, but looking at Adrien now, it was clear enough.

His right arm was gone. Ripped right off his body, leaving in its place not even a stump. Just an armless shoulder.

"Adrien!" Marinette had stood up in an instant, looking in absolute horror at what she had just witnessed. Her eyes were wide, and shimmering in the light, as her tears were clear and obvious to anyone who looked at her. Her lips trembled, and her body shook. She felt ill, and weak. She was going to be sick. Oh  _God_.

This was supposed to be training! Sparring! How had this happened?!

The Primal who had done this was still standing, and had added Adrien's arm to his mass of flesh that now hovered around him. Somehow, he wasn't sick to the stomach of himself, as his grin still was visible past his mess of green hair! How could he even stand himself?!

"Oh my God..." Alya was only able to whisper, standing up and trying to help Marinette sit down before she wound up collapsing. She too, was utterly freaked out by what had just happened.

Mylene on the other hand, simply couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen anymore, but it was clear she was mortified. How couldn't she be? How couldn't anyone be? Her lips were apart, and her mouth open, all discipline totally gone. And it wasn't just her. Nathaniel, Alix, Kim, Lila, everyone watched what was happening clearly hadn't been prepared to see such a sight. And it wasn't surprising either to see these reactions. No one had expected to see this sort of injury on the first fight of the day!

Some of the other students were expressing just as much surprise. A few even activated their powers in surprise, as a flinch reaction.

"Jesus Christ, will you fucking fangirls shut it?!"

An explosively and aggressively loud voice suddenly boomed from behind the Hero Course students. One student they had never seen before was stood up, towering above the group, due to being a few pews higher than them. One look at him revealed an intimidating exterior, and what sounded like an equally intimidating interior. Somehow, everyone just knew that this student was a member of the Elite class. His very presence spoke endless limits about his strength and of his powers.

Appearance wise, the male student was a very muscular student, whom sported a dark crimson colour of hair, similar to that of blood. It all stood on end, giving him a spiky hairstyle that was cut off at the front, leaving his eyes free of any of his hair. That aside, compared to other members of society, he looked totally normal. Like a regular Human being, except when it came to his hands. His hands were like those of an average Human, four fingers and a thumb, except that his palm, and the underside of each of his fingers, was black, covered in calluses and hardened blisters, like they had been burned. Many obvious attempts at stitching the normal fleshy parts of his hands and these hardened bits of his flesh had been made, but none successful.

His gym clothes were akin to those of a traditional martial artists, only in black and red, with his left arm being totally covered, and his right arm left totally exposed from the shoulder down. It showed the impressive array of muscles that his arms possessed, each part of him arm being bulky and strong. His forearms in particular were impressive in size for someone of his age, although he was easily outshone by one of his classmates sitting not too far away from him.

He gritted his teeth and snarled at the Hero course students. "Have you damn people never even seen a proper fucking fight?" Marinette couldn't help but think that she'd seen a lot more real fights than this student, whoever he was, but her thoughts were a hell of a lot more focused one what the hell was happening to Adrien than she was thinking about one-upping some annoying scumbag a few seats up. "If Fleisch wanted to damage the fucking model, he'd've done it."

"Maybe calm it down a little, eh, dude?" A student sat next to him suggested. This student's body was split down the centre, the left side being made of pure water, and the right side being made out of pure fire. Somehow, his clothing didn't destroy itself, nor did the two elements collide and cancel one another out.

This student made those of the Hero course who took extra note realize something - Every other student in the room seemed totally calm. Relaxed. Like they had known that this was going to happen. Like they were used to it, and that they knew something that the Heroes didn't know.

"Screw that!" The angry student declared. "I'm sick of listening to them running their damn mouths. 'Waaa, noo, Adrien' Over and fucking over!" As he mocked, the foul mouthed student flailed his arms around over extravagantly. "That fucking kids fine! I'm more pissed about why Fleisch is even bothering to hold back!" As he spoke, from his clawed palms, two explosions detonated, clearly from his Trait being activated. It explained why his palms looked like they had been seared apart, since the detonation and impact site seemed to be from the palms of the colourfully-mouthed student. "Why the fuck're you holding back, Fleisch?!"

How was Adrien fine?... Marinette's eyes suddenly shot back to the television screen, shocked at what she saw.

There was no blood.

And Adrien was still standing.

* * *

 

The weird thing that Adrien noticed as he watched his arm suddenly grow smaller as he and Shinuya got further away from it, was that it didn't hurt. At all. He didn't feel a single bit of pain. Like it didn't even happen at all. There wasn't any blood - Instead, there was what looked like an already corderized hole where there should be blood vessels leaking his bodily liquids all over the floor. But none ever came.

And surprisingly, he didn't even feel the effects of a phantom limb - The effect of still feeling your body part despite having lost it. He didn't feel that. Well, he did to a minor extent, but not nearly as much as someone else who lost their arm would have done.

Of course, he was still absolutely mortified.

His hand was freaking gone! How couldn't he be freaked out?!

Shinuya came to a skidding half along the floor, stopping just before he and Adrien skidded into a wall. While he was dragging Adrien with his right hand, the Japanese teenager was loading up his left hand with another clump of Explosive Blood, firing it at the Primal behind them. He thrusted the blood towards his opponent, it extending into a solid line of nitroglycerine-laced blood at it rocketed towards Fleisch. "Get back!"

The attack connected, but was absorbed, and its explosion contained by the flesh that the Primal controlled, Adrien's arm now dissolved into it and flowing alongside the orange-opaque semi-liquid semi-solid object. The flesh expanded, but the explosive power was contained, bubbling the meat a little, but not doing any damage of merit.

"Not good enough, Shinuya!" Fleish yelled with a laugh over the amalgamation. The sentient tidal wave of meat began to move, swirling towards the duo. With Adrien's arm added to the mix, his monster of a creation was far stronger, and far chunkier than it was before. Such was the nature of his powers.

Fleisch Quartz - Primality - Meat Grinder - Fleisch's power allows him to control flesh of any kind via physical contact, including his own. If he is able to touch meat, he is able to turn it into a semi-liquid form, which he can then make extremely durable and resistant, as well as sharp and other such versatile states of matter. He can also manipulate more flesh by using the already manipulated flesh to gather more for him. The more flesh he controls at one time, the more powerful his Primality becomes. However, with this, the more meat his obtains, the more difficult he finds it to control. During this process, individuals he has added to his mass of meat may be able to regain their independence. Upon the deactivation of this power, the meat returns to its previous form. If he has absorbed an entire individual, that person shall be released unharmed. However, while still a part of his Primality, they will still feel pain.

"Damn it!" Shinuya exclaimed with a grunt. Fleish had a power that could negate his own, and with enough force, could easily overpower him. Meat Grinder was a powerful counter to the Japanese teenager's multitude of powers. It was probably one of the worst match-up's he could have asked for.

"What the hell?..." Adrien was basically whispering his question, his left hand clutching area his right arm should have been, where his shoulder should have been. Surprisingly, he was still stood up, which impressed Shinuya, if nothing else. Anyone else would have serious psychological damage to losing such a vital limb. He stumbled a bit on his feet, but for the most part, he was actually dealing with it admirably well.

"We need to get out of here. Reassess our plans." Shinuya decided on the spot. As he did so, he threw a few more explosive rounds at the Meat Grinder power behind them, doing what he could to keep it at bay. While it was able to suppress Shinuya's powers, it wasn't able to push straight past them. The more explosions Shinuya threw, the more suppressed Fleisch's Primality was.

"W-Wait... What about Nino?"

"Trust me, we aren't gonna find him! Not with Kuragari having hold of him!" Another large blast, this one filling the entire corridor of its impact.

"We can't just leave him!"

"You wanna be a Hero, right?" Launching yet another two tendrils of detonating blood, Shinuya yelled at the French teenager. "If you wanna be a Hero, then you're gonna need to learn when we have to leave someone behind to have better chance at succeeding!"

"That's... That's Villain talk!"

"What do you think we are, Chat?!"

Using Vigilante names in this circumstance... They were lucky audio wasn't being transmitted, and that the continuous sounds of shelling's form Shinuya's Trait were negating a huge amount of the sound that they made. It was extremely unlikely anyone would be able to hear them over the continuous shelling that Shinuya was unleashing upon the wall of Human flesh.

Though Adrien never liked to think about it, he was a Villain. Vigilantism was illegal, and he was using his powers, not in a lawful way, but in the spirit of the law... That made him a Villain. And while he wanted to be a Hero...

"...We won't win this fight unless we re-strategize! Nino can look after himself!" Shinuya yelled once more.

The blond boy couldn't help but notice that the gap between explosions was now lengthening. Shinuya would normally throw a new round of blood every few seconds, but now the length between the previous one, and the one he was charging up, was about ten seconds. The more he used this power, the less he could put out continuously. He needed time to replenish.

And at this rate, the Primal's power would consume them if they didn't leave. It seemed that as time passed, the Primal seemed to become stronger and stronger, like he was putting out more and more.

To further add to the current predicament, Fleisch was clearly enjoying himself. "I can see you over there!" He laughed, having closed the distance enough to be able to glare at the opponents he was facing through the small gaps between the Primality. That grin could be seen from a mile away, and could probably be used to signal helicopters, Adrien thought to himself.

But right now, he was faced with a choice. And thinking about it... It was a very harsh choice to consider. One a Hero may be forced to make. One a Vigilante would have to make. Leave Nino behind, and regroup, and maybe have a better chance at victory, or stay and fight someone who has a clear power advantage, to look for a teammate whom where they have no idea is located.

Of course, everyone wanted to look for their friend in that scenario... But the overwhelming power Fleisch had... And the noticeable lack of their third teammate, the Abnormal... Heroes were always told that they had to choose to save as many people as possible… But no one ever liked to talk about the ones they had to leave behind. But now that he was faced with that…

Adrien made a painful split second choice.

"God -  _Fucking_  - Damn it!" Adrien gritted his teeth, and gripped a tight hold of Shinuya's shoulder with his left hand. He looked at the encroaching lump of orange liquid one last time, hoping to see Nino running away from it towards them, but he saw no such thing.

' _Sorry, Nino!_ ' He thought to himself, before Teleporting him and Shinuya several floors away, just before being added to the collection of meat. He didn’t have a choice. That’s what he kept telling himself.

Not that it made what he’d done any easier.

* * *

 

"You want me to take on the Abnormal?"

Primarily speaking, Adrien was right handed. Functionally speaking, like in a fist fight, he was pretty ambidextrous, his left not totally useless, but when it came to things, he heavily preferred the right side of his body. So obviously, losing the right arm of his was a fairly major loss to his abilities. He wasn't in the best place to fight.

But according to Shinuya, he still had some value.

The Trait Absorber nodded. "Yeah. You could probably take Rex on in a fight and have a chance." As he spoke, he peaked around the corner, checking the corridor for enemies encroaching on their position on the fourth floor. "Rex isn't exactly a huge hand-to-hand fighter."

"And I'm not exactly great at fighting with one hand!" Adrien reminded his teammate with a sarcastic quip. His left hand still clutched where his shoulder would be, still expecting to feel it back there, like it had never left. But it was still gone. Caught up in whatever the hell Fleisch had done with it.

It was understandable to be concerned in this situation, Shinya supposed. The loss of a limb was a major deal for anyone, no matter who they were, and how strong they were. Once you lost a limb, bar some extreme luck, you were crippled in the ability to do some of the most basic functions in society. Even Heroes and Soldiers were faced with such brutal maimings to their person, and many never fully recovered. He'd explained how Fleisch's Primality worked, that his arm would return, but it wasn't exactly comforting right now. How could it be?

"Rex doesn't have a lot he can use at close range. His powers require him to either make an object that will fight for him, or he attacks from a distance. You can get in close, take him out while I deal with Fleisch."

"And when - If - I manage to beat Rex?" Adrien asked. Part of him was amazed he was even considering this as a possibility.

"Nothing. That's you done. Go look for Nino, I don't care." Shinuya said, checking around another corner. "If Fleisch gets you into his meat-tsunami, then his power gains strength. More meat he has, the stronger he gets. He gets you, then I'm not gonna be able to do much against him. So just avoid him."

Adrien could have almost laughed. He was being tasked with fighting an Abnormal, who possessed many powers, despite having lost his right hand, his dominant arm, while Shinuya tried taking down a one Primal man-of-war with his Explosive Blood and can-do attitude, all while they were missing a member of their team who was kidnapped by someone who looked like he came straight out of a Supervillain comic.

In fact, he did have to suppress a chuckle at the near absurdity of the situation. "This what it's like during combat drills often?"

"It's a lot more intense when I'm Ripoff." Shinuya said, referring to his Vigilante persona as an alternate state of mind. Adrien did have to admit, Shinuya seemed a lot more jovial and sarcastic when he was Shinuya, and a bit more focused when he was doing his Vigilante business. Perhaps both were ways of dealing with the stress of the other. To simply treat them as if they were entirely different people.

"Well... This is what we signed up for." For some reason now, the prospect of a challenge filled Adrien with a sense of excitement. In this world, it was impossible to know exactly what to expect from each and every opponent. Fighting with his weaker arm could actually prove to be invaluable practice.

"Ah, suicidal confidence." Shinuya joked with a smirk, allowing his focus to drop for just a nanosecond. "That'll do well against the Villains."

As much as Adrien agreed, he was still worried about finding Nino. He sent a quick mental prayer to anyone or anything that happened to be listening, hoping that he'd be safe.

"Targets located."

Both the Vigilante's frozen when they heard that robotic tone. Behind them was Rex, the Abnormal, stood ready, and waiting to strike. Both turned to see the pale student, his red eyes hidden slightly, visible only by the gaps of his blue hair. How long had he been stood there? Had he heard about their Vigilantism?

No. they couldn't worry about that. Not now. If he had heard about them, he would have done something. He must have just gotten there. How had he figured out though...

"How'd you find us?" Adrien asked, trying to stand strong. Without the addition of a right arm to speak of, he didn't look too threatening.

"One of my Abnormality's is the ability to integrate my consciousness into the Digital world. I process all the information within it, and take that back to my physical body. You have remained in this area for so long, I was able to just follow you here." Rex told them. He had followed them via the cameras? That seemed to be what he was implying.

Rex was Adrien's opponent. That was what had been agreed upon, hadn't it? Shinuya seemed to look at Adrien, giving him a look that asked if he felt confident enough in taking on the Abnormal.

If Adrien was being honest, he wasn't. It was one of the first times in his life where he really didn't feel too good about taking on an opponent. He'd taken on Molecular in a spur. He'd fought Terawatt on an impulse. He'd battles Sunstreak as Chat Noir alongside Ladybug, even when it was a losing battle.

But the loss of his limb had shattered his confidence... But...

That was what a Hero did, wasn't it? Fought even when all seemed lost, to defend those who couldn't defend themselves. When put like that, Adrien knew that he had better get confident, and get confident quickly, lest he allow his lack of faith in himself to cost him the fight.

"Go take out the Primal guy." Adrien told Shinuya. As he did so, his Destruction Trait activated in his left hand, and he stood in a fighting stance, right leg forward, back arched slightly, and rigid in structure. When he fought, he tended to favour ridged structure in martial arts stance, making sure each of his muscles were tense. With his Teleporting powers, he could use this to maximize his strength levels. "I'll try and hold off this guy."

Nodding, Shinuya turned the corner and ran. For a brief moment, Rex's cog irises whirred, but then stopped, like he was preparing to psyche himself up for the combat he was about the engage in. Almost like his body contained a number of cogs, and that they all needed to rotate to prepare Rex for the fight he was about instigate.

The two stared at one another, the Abnormal looking at Adrien with a calm expression, while Adrien glared, his lips masking his stress with a grin that spoke courageous volumes, but hid his concern. While he was sure he could at the very least buy time, he wasn't sure if that was going to be enough.

"Where's Nino?" He asked, breaking the silence between the two combatants. Although when he received no response, from the animatronic-like person in front of him, he paused for a second. Part of him feared the answer, even though they were students. He knew nothing fatal was happening to his best friend, but the image of Nino being hit by explosions as Shinuya fought Fleisch didn't ease Adrien's stomach. But he pressed on. "What did your teammate do with him?

"Adrien Agreste." Rex spoke suddenly. "Age fifteen. Sex, male. Occupation, Student, and model." He sounded like he was reading off a list of information that he had lifted off the internet. It caused Adrien to back up a bit, slightly unnerved by the way that this guy was talking. Of course, this was all very public knowledge, but to bring it up so randomly, in a combat situation... "Possessor of the rare Dual Trait. Can perform Teleportation, and Destruction. Good grades. A hopeful future in Heroism."

"What, are you reading my live journal?" Adrien joked, mostly to assure himself of the danger this Abnormal posed.

"Traits activated at age four. One day after the other." Wait, what? "Secondary Trait activated at TACTIC. Resulted in death of mother, yet continues to use secondary Trait to this day." A small smile appeared on Rex's lips. "Am I accurate?"

This shook Adrien, and he visually shivered. Never, ever, ever, had he told anyone what had happened to his mother that day. He kept it to himself, too ashamed to ever confine his guilt to any other living being on the planet. He couldn't even dream of doing that. The thoughts of what would happen if he did... And even just remembering it made him want to throw up. He could practically taste the iron of his mother's choked-up blood whenever he thought about it. So how... How did Rex...

"The day after the incident, the news reported it. To many, it was an accident, and overlooked, hence you not being placed in jail. Accidents happen during the activation of our powers." Rex continued. "However, information was spread across the World Wide Web. Again, overlooked, yet if one digs deep enough, they can find anything they desire in the Digital World." With another smirk, Rex added, "You jokingly asked if I was reading your live journal. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that I was. All the information available about you online, I processed in less than ten seconds. Information, after all, is the ultimate power."

Abnormals truly possessed some interesting abilities, Adrien had to confess. Still, he felt ill... Sick, reminded of such an event. He hated it... Oh how he would never stop expressing how he hated it... He hated it so...

"I do not intend to judge you." Rex stated suddenly. "Youthful things happen. In this world, we are constantly in danger of our own powers. Humanity in particular. Your kind are prone to accidents. Failures. And worst of all, repetition. Making the same failures, again and again. The Great Trait War. The Human-Primal War. And the Human attempted Genocide of Abnormals." Rex listed off, one by one, some of the biggest failures of Humanity, and some of their biggest disgraces, throughout history. Ones Adrien was keenly aware of. "Yet you learned, at such a young age. You learned how dangerous you were. And you took steps to prevent it. So it is not my place to judge your past actions." his eyes whirred once more. As he spoke, he remained motionless, only blinking, and moving his lips. He was really like an animatronic.

"Information, however, as I said, is the ultimate weapon. With knowledge, I can figure out ways to defeat my opponents with ease. With it, you possess countless battle strategies and tricks your opponent will never be able to guess. It is the treasure that will never weight you down… But you... You intrigue me."

"How so?..." Adrien asked, his teeth biting down on his lower lip until he could taste the iron in his bloodstream.

"Many Humans who harm an individual upon the activation of their powers are traumatized. This does not happen to Abnormals or Primals due to our higher states of desensitization to violence and trauma. For your kind, however, many swear off their powers. You however, actively kept using yours, making no effort to stop using it. In fact, you kept trying to improve it." Rex scanned his eyes at Adrien's left hand, looking at the ripples on his arm where the grey broke, revealing his natural skin tone, before turning dark charcoal again. "I am a gatherer of information. I process data that I receive, and store it to improve myself. I desire to know two things. One; Why you keep using your secondary Trait, and two; Why you desire to walk the path of violence after having butchered your own mother."

The sheer bluntness of that second statement suddenly left Adrien enraged. It wasn't bad enough that this guy brought up his mother, but now went on to say that he'd butchered her? He knew it was true, but the mere reminder, and that term, 'butchered', implying that he had meant to do such a horrific thing, drove him into a frenzy!

He Teleported right in front of Rex, and swung a back-leg roundhouse kick to the jaw, sending every single surge of energy that he had in his body into the kick. He wanted to make sure that he broke the jaw with this strike, and he yelled as he did so, allowing the trapped air to escape his lungs. " _Raaarrrrrgh_!"

Though he felt the kick connect, he was stunned to discover that he had been blocked by Rex's arm, simply pulling up into a guard block right his forearm. Suddenly, a sharp pain ran up Adrien's leg. Closer inspection revealed that Rex had crafted a metal brace that wrapped itself around the skin of the arm, hidden by the long sleeves of his white shirt.

Suddenly, his body began to crackle, and static electricity began to generate. Within seconds, the entire Abnormal's body was covered in a thick layer of Electricity, thanks to his Electrokinesis, reaching up to current levels of 100 MA. Rex discharged these currents to Adrien, with the aim of knocking out the Human from the fight. He used far more power than needed for that. Being hit at a current of this level could easily kill Adrien.

Luckily, Adrien's Destruction Trait was still active, and as always, acted as his ground-wire. Absorbing all the impact of the huge electrical shock, Adrien was able to escape the situation totally unharmed. He teleported backwards quickly, aiming to get a distance between him and his opponent.

 _'The guy controls Technology, as well as Electricity... He must've built that bracer from tech he found around the building..._ ' Adrien thought to himself. _'So, as long as I keep Destruction activated, I should be okay... My first goal needs to be destroying those metal bracers he's wearing... Then he shouldn't be able to block me as easily... Leaving his head exposed to a roundhouse!'_

Rex simply sighed. "It appears as though I won't get my answers today." He frowned as well, and his eyes whirred once more. "We're finished here."

"The hell are you talking abou-" Suddenly, a huge explosion enwrapped itself around Adrien's right leg, enveloping him in a huge cloud and damage and debris. The explosion had caught him so off guard, and had been so instant, Adrien hadn't even known what had happened until a few seconds afterwards. " _Aaaargh_!"

The impact sent him flying to the side, crashing into a wall, and left him utterly broken, slamming face down onto the floor. He was out of commission. He tried so very hard to Teleport away, to get up to face Rex, but his body refused to adhere to any commands that its master gave him, no matter how much the electrical synapses from his brain yelled at his limbs to do so. "H-How the hell?..."

Rex stood, towering above Adrien, looking seriously disappointed by the blond model. He sighed, showing his tire of the current fight, before he suddenly pointed his finger at Adrien's eyes, and from it, a very small, tiny robotic creature flew from his body and in front of Adrien.

It looked like a small robotic mosquito. Aside from being made of metal and bits of technology, it looked like an exact replica, except only it was much smaller than the real life species. It buzzed its wings, just in front of Adrien's hazy eyes. "A robot?..."

"My Technopathy allows me to create marvels, so long as I understand what is needed in each creation." Rex explained. Though he didn't say it, Rex was fully aware that he possessed a genius level intellect, far exceeding the vast majority of his fellow students. He remained humble and reserved about it however, never flaunting it in their faces. Still, he had defeated Adrien. He felt no guilt nor had obligation to explain what happened to Adrien during the course of their fight. But he did so anyway. "Ever notice how my irises whirred occasionally during our encounter?"

"Yeah?..." Adrien replied, feeling lightheaded. He wasn't going to be able to stay awake much longer at this rate. Shock, damage, and his lack of his right arm were all playing a role in his inability to remain conscious.

"Each time that happened, I was sending a command to my drones. While we spoke, I was keeping you distracted from their movements. I took the liberty of setting one on your ally too. Speaking of which..." A whirr, and an explosion later, it was clear that Shinuya had lost his ability to fight. If the explosion hadn't taken care of him, Fleisch's Primality would have done. And with Nino AWOL, and unable to contribute to the fight... "This match is over. Our group claims victory."

"Damn... It..." Adrien muttered to himself. He made a fist with his hand, gripping onto whatever was nearby as he realized that they had lost... He'd failed... distracted by a conversation about his mother... Some Hero he turned out to be...

Had all that training... All that preparation... All of it... Had it been for nothing?... He had passed the CFD introduction course, sure... But it was painfully obvious he knew far too little about the world as it worked right now. Primals... Abnormals... And even other Humans had abilities he couldn't dream of... He needed to become stronger... He had a lot to learn...

He fought off the tiredness he felt... Or at least he tried to. He wanted to know... He needed to know... "Mom..."

"I didn't lie about anything I said earlier." The Abnormal said, unaware of what the Human has just said. He walked away as he spoke, leaving Adrien in a pile of battered limbs and self-pity. "I do have a genuine interest as to what your reasons for walking this path are. Why you chose to continue using your secondary Trait. My pessimism to Humankind knows no bounds, I make no secret of that. Your kind are on a path to self-destruction, for which there shall not be a salvation... But you hold some genuine interest to me..."

This was all Adrien was able to hear before he passed out.

* * *

 

Marinette had sat by Adrien's side when he was brought back to the main room, still unconscious. He hadn't received any injuries that needed medical attention, the explosion Rex had set of thankfully had been mostly concussive, and not all that forceful. He had been sat alongside his fellow Hero course students, propped up against the pew they were sat at. Marinette tended to him, while another group went through their regiment.

Some people in their world of superpowers displayed animalistic tendencies. Many of those people were Primals. But it was never that cut and dry. Humans also displayed some animal like quirks. Marinette had assumed Adrien didn't have any, like she didn't. She was wrong however.

Despite the beat down he had received, and despite the fact he was unconscious, he must have been resting fairly well, because Marinette heard him purring in his sleep. Purring, like a cat. The revelation would have made her laugh if she weren't distracted by the fact he was still missing his right arm.

She hadn't expected Adrien to have such a quirk. Perhaps it was due to a member of his family having a feline Trait of some description that he had inherited, or perhaps that was all it was. A quirk. Something unique to him and him alone. Who knew with this world? So much variety and uniqueness to every single person…

If she hadn't been stressed over making sure he was okay, she would have found it cute.

"How's he doing?" Came a voice from a green haired Primal. It was Fleisch, and behind him was still the remnants of his semi-liquid power. Seeing the look Marinette gave him, he raised his hands in a mock surrender. "Chill, blue. I only came to return the guys arm to him."

"Return his arm?..."

The liquid began to attach itself to Adrien's sleeping body, and briefly, Marinette considered covering the Primal in a steel casing and leaving him to suffocate, until she noticed that the meat began to take shape on Adrien's body. Once Fleisch deactivated his power, Adrien's right arm was back in place, like nothing had ever happened to it.

"I used my power the way it was intended to be used. I never intended to do any permanent damage to the guy." Fleisch explained to Marinette, who was still staring at her crush in marvel, and in gratitude that he wouldn't live the rest of his life without his right limb. "I get that it must've been a shock to you to see a power like mine... So, I'm sorry if I freak you guys out." Fleisch's personality had done a total one-eighty. He now spoke in a polite, friendlier manner. He sheepishly added, "I like to fight. Sometimes I get a bit heated when I'm in a battle."

"I think Mari's just worried about her crush over there." Alya joked to the side. Secretly, had Fleisch not just explained himself to them, she would have most likely sent a Wi-Fi signal so strong into his torso that it would have ripped him apart. But when she heard his explanation and reminded herself that to not use a power as was intended because to may freak some people out was... Stupid, she regained her composure. That didn’t mean she had to like it… But when she thought about it, why should he have held back?

Fleisch looked at the blue haired girl, and at the blond boy. Now that he looked at the two of them, and the way the girl with the pigtails was still fussing over him and trying to make sure he was comfortable, even though he wasn't conscious... He smiled. "Ah. I guess that explains why she looked like she wanted to kill me." He turned to Alya again and asked, "How's the other one?"

Nino was also knocked out, and seemed to be in a worse state than Adrien was. He had suffered a lot more beatings than Adrien had, like someone had gone fully brutality on him for an extended period of time. Well, they knew that Kuragari had, because he had admitted to it. He wasn't punished, however, since in a real world situation, he probably should have kept going until his opponent was dead or unconscious. Technically speaking, because he'd done nothing wrong in terms of the exercise, punishment was out of the question for him.

"He's... Okay. Just out for now." Alya sighed. "I guess we didn't realize how brutal this was all gonna be."

"It's fun though, don't you think?" The Primal said with a grin. "Going full out... And learning where our boundaries are, just too smash them apart... It's something I live for. It's the world we live in."

"I guess so."

"The match is over." Fuel Tank said on the loudspeakers, announcing the end of the current fight. Suddenly each member of the conversation was listening to the announcements for the next team to fight. "Group One is victorious. The next members of the exercise are as follows - Group One, Marinette-Dupain-Cheng, Rose Lavillant, and Markus Hashro, versus Group Two, which shall be made up of Juleka Coffaine, Brynne Brenton, and Getkuu Kato."

Upon hearing her name, Marinette visually froze for a second, not wanting to leave Adrien's side. She knew she had to leave, but she shot a look at Alya, whom nodded, informing her friend that she'd make sure to look after Adrien. Reassured, Marinette made her way over to meet with Rose.

The softly spoken and polite blonde haired girl smiled upon seeing Marinette. "I guess it's our turn, huh?"

"Looks like it. We're fighting Juleka, right?"

"Yeah..." The petite girl sighed at that comment. Juleka was currently her girlfriend, and previously, her best friend of five years. The two cared for one another, even if they were awkward about displaying said affections in public, even though their entire class knew about them perfectly well. Understandably, she didn't desire any combat against the other girl, but knew that she didn't have much of a choice, unless she just forfeited the match right here and now.

Marinette would have liked to comfort her classmate, but she wasn't entirely sure what she could say. She couldn't imagine that anything she could say would help Rose feel better of the impending opponent that she had to fight. Instead, she just asked, "So, where's this Markus guy?"

"Where's Group One?" She heard a gruff voice call out, looking for them. That must have been him.

Raising her hand, and keeping her index finger rigid while folding the rest in, she looked around "Group One over here!"

Upon seeing Markus, she wished she'd kept her hand down.

The foul mouthed, black palmed student whom kept his left arm wrapped up in clothing, stood before them, with an equal look of disgust on his face. Letting out a small explosion in his palms, he muttered, "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me."


	14. Ruthless Fighters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Rose deal with Markus, someone who shows nothing but antagonism, but possesses a brutal ability to cause explosions from his hands...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to assure everyone, while we have a LOT of OC's, they DO all serve a purpose. I don't blame anyone for feeling bogged down by them, but each OC does have a reason for being here, I promise ^_^ I'm excited to share some with you.

"So... What're we working with?"

The student who went by the name of Getkuu was the one who broke the silence between Group two as they awaited their go-ahead to enter the next warehouse. A different one to where Adrien and his group had done battle, of course, so they wouldn't see any of the damages done by such a brutal fight. This had been done to give every group an equal opportunities fight.

Getkuu spoke in a rather monotonous voice, not expressing too much genuine interest in his teammates, Juleka and Brynne. He clearly held little actual interest in what they could do, but rather, knowing what their powers were was a crucial part of how they would be able to function as a team in the upcoming excessive. He was doing this out of a functional requirement. Not because he actually cared.

Juleka sighed. Very few words had been spoken between the members of Group Two at all. The aim of this sort of exercise, while testing combat ability, also tested the individual's abilities to work in teams with other people they knew nothing about. After all, a Hero may have to work alongside someone they had never met before in order to stop a common foe. This would make for excellent practice.

That was, if her teammates felt like even attempting it.

"My Trait's called Solid Shadow Strike." The dark haired girl said, deciding it would be down to her to start the conversation. "I can turn my shadows, and any shadows my own is connected with solid, give them a certain amount of mass, and use them as weapons. The darker it is, the less light there is, the easier it is to give them more mass."

In a building like this, with a bare minimum functionality of lights, the power would be useful. It gave her the field-type advantage. Sticking to the shadows would give her not only the stealth element, which was what she preferred to use whenever she could, since it stuck with the theme that she wanted for herself as a Hero. Even so, the more mass she had to work with, the more deadly her strikes became.

Nodding, Getkuu signalled his understanding, brushing a strand of his purple hair away from his equally purple eyes. Come to think of it, his clothes were purple and black as well, like he suited his entire costume around his hair and eye colours. The only exception was a dark blue scarf that he kept wrapped around his neck, which he ran his hands over at intervals. Still, that wasn't even slightly important, was it? The focus right now was on learning what everyone could do.

"Shadows. Yeah, that'll work." Brynne chuckled beside Juleka, sarcasm, in a friendly manner, spoken clearly. The girl had waited for someone to spark the topic, so she could join in and for it to not seem weird or awkward when she did so. Her bright red hair contrasted the darker colours of her two teammates, and her green eyes darted between the two of them, like she was trying to figure out which one of them would react best to having ice thrown down the back of their shirts.

"So, what can you do then?" Getkuu questioned, still not adding any enthusiasm, or even disappointment, or anything to his tone. This was tedious to him, it was clear. So clear he didn't even want to be dealing with this today that he may as well have been asleep, and Jukeka got the feeling that he might actually have preferred to be sleeping right now.

Not that this discouraged Brynne, however.

In the palm of her right hand, a small spark, then a flame began to appear, covering her hand, and engulfing it in a warm glow. The fire almost burned Juleka, due to how hot it had been, but it never seemed to bother the red haired girl whom was smirking as she showed off her power. The concept of scaling back the heat for those around her simply never occurred to her. "This. I'm a Pyrokinetic, in pretty much the most literal sense you can think of."

Brynne Brenton - Trait - Pyrokinesis - Brynne possesses the ability to generate and mentally control fire. Her body releases sparks, which are then amplified by the oxygen around her, which leaves her with a flame that she can do with as she pleases. Due to this power, she cannot feel the effects of heat, but is extraordinarily sensitive to the cold. She is capable of using her flames in combat, firing them at opponents like a beam, or, with enough force, using it to propel herself like a jet, thus achieving flight. Overuse of this ability will cause Brynne's body temperature to plummet, because her power is directly tied to her body temperature.

"So that just leaves me then." The purple themed student sighed. From his open palm, a dark ball of energy materialized, white energy sparking around the sphere, like static electricity building up inside power cables. The sphere was about the size of a basketball, but rested perfectly within Getkuu's open palm, not seeing to add any sort of mass to the teenagers figure. His other hand also was creating another sphere at the same time, the exact same effects coming forth as the ball grew bigger.

Suddenly, Getkuu tossed both of his creations aside, allowing them to explode in the air. That was where things began to get interesting. As they exploded, they almost seemed to tear the nothingness around them open, creating a ripple in the air. It was only once they were both done forming that Juleka realized what they were.

They were portals.

"I can only create two of these at a time, but I can open and close them off at will. They'll go through walls if I want them to. Step through one, and you'll come out of the other."

Getkuu Kato - Trait - Vortex - Getkuu is able to create two portals that an individual can travel between to instantly get from two points. He can only create two of these at a time, but can open and close them whenever he desires. He is also capable of making them intangible, making them go through walls. If he is not careful when using this ability, he runs the risk of winding up opening a portal in a dangerous location. For example, he is easily able to open up a portal in space, but the resulting damage could easily kill him. His power is versatile in combat, but he likes to keep the full extent of his power hidden.

"Our powers combined could make for an easy victory." The Vortex Trait user stated, dusting off his hands, and closing the portals he had created. "We should be able to strategize a relatively easy counterattack to whatever it is our opponents throw our way. With my powers, I should be able to create an opening behind their defences, and allow you two to funnel your powers through from behind, winning us the match." He made such an attack sound simple, easy, like it wouldn't even be what you could call a fight.

"I don't think so." Juleka muttered. "You haven't seen my classmates in action. They're tough."

"And you haven't seen Markus in combat." Getkuu responded dully. "He's a ruthless savage."

* * *

"So... Markus... What can you do?" Marinette asked, as the group awaited the signal to begin to battle. She and Rose hadn't really been able to get the foul mouthed student to say a single word, but they knew nothing about his Trait, how it worked, or what he was capable of. If they wanted to win, they needed to know.

"You're fucking joking, right? The giant fuck-off explosions in my hands didn't tip you off?" The American spat back at the two French girls with sarcastic thick venom, like they had just pointed out the single most obvious thing in the history of Humanity. He didn't even give them a look as he spoke, not deeming them worthy of the glance.

"No need to be so rude..." Rose quietly said, trying to make herself as small and as out-of-the-way as she could.

"And the fuck can you do, blondie? Let me guess, you can make flowers from your hair."

Marinette and Rose both flinched. The sheer levels of hostility that Markus was displaying far exceeded even just a logical dislike for interacting with other people. He seemed actively aggressive, like he didn't even want to speak to anyone in his entire life. This wasn't a desire to be left alone - This was just pure hostility. Marinette was caught off guard, but jumped to her classmate's defence. "I- Is there really a need for that?"

"You tell me." The boy suddenly slapped his hands against the wall he was leaning upon, and pushed himself away from it, letting another small explosion propel him a few meters away. "From what I saw, you fuckin' Heroes started to fall out and cry after seeing your generic model friend lose an arm to Fleisch's Primality. Not sure what the hell you expect me to take from that. You gonna start crying if shit gets too difficult?"

"You know, we can actually fight!" Marinette defended, suddenly very explosively.

"Oh really?" Markus pointed at Rose and frowned. "Short 'n sweet, I'll ask again, what's your power? Surprise me."

Rose took a step back, and took a quick look around the area, to see if there were any objects that she could use to demonstrate her Trait with. Finding a leaf on the ground, she decided that it would be the best she would get. Picking it up, the small girl placed her open palm atop it, and transmitted her power through it.

When she showed the explosive boy, the leaf had frozen. As her palms parted, cold air, and a white mist left, showcasing the leaf in a cool beauty. It reflected the suns light, letting the sculpture sparkle in natural rays and appeal. Marinette loved Rose's Trait. It was incredibly pretty, and Rose was always so graceful with it.

Rose Lavillant - Trait - Cryokinesis - Rose possesses the ability to freeze molecules and particles around her, allowing her to create ice from her body. She can freeze objects down to the atomic level, weakening their structural stability, or she can cover an object in ice, creating a defensive layer of ice around said object. She can fire it off like a pulse beam, or apply it by hand. Overuse of this power will give Rose frostbite.

"Wonderful. So you can give the enemy a little chill. Fantastic, definitely proving me wrong here." His attitude clearly upset Rose, who bowed her head and took a sudden, very keen interest in the texture of the ground beneath them. Markus sighed. "Great. And you, fangirl, what's your power?"

"Atom Duplication." Marinette didn't bother hiding the irritation she felt towards this guy. She actively growled while she spat out the words in answer to the question. This person was an Elite Course member, she knew that from the introductory screen, which told members what class their partners were in. Were all the students in the Elite class this arrogant, this insufferable? She couldn't even begin to imagine what a class in that room was like if they all were. She could only assume that it would be full of fights, angry swearing, and violence.

"So you're a defensive fighter."

Marinette nodded. "If I touch a material, I can copy and duplicate the atoms at will, creating anything I want. I'm better at defence than I am at attacking, but I'm - "

"Fucking useless." The explosive superpower user summarized in a hoarse tone, having already made his judgement on her. To him, she was little more than a distraction, a deterrence, a pest that would get in his way when he was in the midst of a fight.

"What?!"

Markus didn't bother rationalizing his answer, nor did he seem fazed by the shocked reaction Marinette gave. Either he hadn't heard it, or, the far more likely option, he couldn't give a damn. Instead, when the announcement sounded, to indicate that the match was to begin, he simply shoved past his two teammates, his shoulders knocking into theirs as her forced them aside. "Stay the hell out of my way. I came for combat, and I'm gonna get combat, none of this hiding behind a wall bull."

The two French girls watched in silence, and after sharing a concerned look at one another, slowly followed the American with the short temper, explosive hands, and foul mouth. Marinette felt true animosity towards Markus, truly disliking him as a person. His vulgar attitude, his arrogant personality, and the way he ridiculed Rose and herself despite having never seen the two of them in combat, dismissing them because he felt stronger than them by default.

What warranted such a strong dislike for just being a social person? Not even social, but interacting with other people in an acceptable manner? The teenager clearly held little respect for anyone other than himself, and knew very little about his opponents, foregoing logical strategic planning in favour of just brute strength. Did he even have any experience? As an Elite student, there wasn't much doubt that he knew more than Marinette did about his powers

As the group came to a cross-corridor, letting the current path split into three separate routes, each correlating with a compass direction, North, East, and West, Markus came to a halt, his black palmed hands twitching. "Well, they showed up quickly."

"What're you talking abou - " Marinette began to ask, before noticing that Markus had raised his left hand up to a wall, and unleashed an explosion, the bright light of the Americans power revealing a mass of darkness with a sharp edge, stopped just seconds before it made contact with the Elite students skin. Marinette recognized it as Solid Shadow Strike - Juleka's deadly, stealth based Trait.

"Looks like they already found us." Markus said, having to hide back what sounded like a genuine laugh. He let out another explosion, this time, utterly decimating the shadow creation from the face of the planet as he pressed his hand against the wall, taking out a huge chunk of the concrete structure in the process.

Suddenly, Marinette and Rose jumped into action, activating their own powers to protect them. Marinette slammed her hand onto the ground, and began to duplicate at a rapid rate, creating a thick shield to protect herself from the sudden slashing and attempts at piercing. Rose meanwhile, knew the weaknesses of Juleka's Trait. Activating her Cryokinetic powers, she began to freeze the various shadow attacks as quickly as she could. She knew that without the ability to create momentum, or alter her shadows shape, her power became ineffective.

Limited in her ability to use her Trait in combat, Marinette attempted a move she had been theorizing. With an additional surge of duplication, spikes began to erupt from her shield, piercing some of the shadows. While her logic was solid, the shadows were not, meaning they could repair themselves and attack again - Her attack would have worked on a Human, Abnormal, Primal, or even an Akuma, but not against Juleka's shadowy Trait. Marinette's teeth gritted, she didn't have access to anything luminescent to weaken the encroaching attacks, and this was the best she could do. "Damn it!"

More and more shadows struck out at them, most of which Markus obliterated by unleashing his highly explosive powers on them, decimating them with high levels of light as well as the pure destructive power of his abilities. After destroying the ones that were attacking him, he blasted himself around Marinette and Rose, destroying the strikes that they had been unable to defeat, detonating the air around his palms to remove the issues his teammates were dealing with - A surprising act, Marinette thought, as she was convinced that Markus was the kind of person to abandon his allies, or just straight up obliterate his allies with friendly fire to get rid of a threat.

Under heavy bombardment, the shadows began to retreat, retracting quickly throughout the corridors to meet up with their master, with Markus in hot pursuit. He kept up to speed by using his powers as a turbo booster, letting him keep up with the shadows as they ran. He figured that the shadows would return to their owner, and that following them was a good way to find said owner.

Where he could then proceed to batter their entire tram. Rose couldn't stop herself from shivering, nothing to do with the ice she had generated all around her. Just the reminder that Juleka was with the other team.

The team Markus was preparing to eradicate.

* * *

"Urgh..." Adrien's head was pounding, like he'd been smacked in the face by a metal wrench. He felt the sharp pains in his skull before he even groggily opened his right eye, half expecting to be in a white, warm, hospital bed with some grapes to the side and a water bottle to the other. Instead, he found himself located back in the viewing room of the training. It was full of incomprehensible muttering from a thousand conversations, none of which Adrien possessed the mental capacity to understand at this point.

He adjusted himself slightly, and forced his other eye to open, this one more hesitant to open than his right. He had to blink a few more times in order to get the message across to his body that he was now awake, and needed the control of his eyelids. His body wasn't in much pain, aside from a dull on in his leg, but that and his headache aside, he was fine. He rubbed his temple with his right hand and sighed. They'd lost their match, hadn't they? Rex had beaten him with ease, the Abnormals Technopathic ways far too versatile and resourceful for Adrien to counter.

"Wait a second..."

Blinking hard, he realized something.

He had his right arm back. Right there, looking totally unscathed. Understandably, Adrien was freaked the holy hell out. His head shot backwards, and he brought the reattached limb in front of his field of vision, eyes wide and focused on the dominant arm. "What the hell?!"

"Adrien! You're awake!" He found Alya to his right, suddenly crouched next to him, and resting an open palm on his forehead. "Take it easy. You've been out a while." She helped him sit up in a more comfortable position, so he wouldn't strain himself. "Your team lost, but you knocked out, so they brought you here. Your injuries weren't that bad, so they didn't take you to the nurse."

"I've got a massive headache..." Adrien muttered, his own hand gripping his temple again, this time, his left hand. "What... Where'd my hand come back from?" He needed an answer to that question before anything else happened. He'd sort of gotten used to not having his arm, and having it back had thrown him off for just a moment.

"Your opponent, the one with the green hair, he gave it back. Guy said it was part of his Primality." Alya went on to briefly explain the Meat Grinder power Fleisch had explained to her, to make her understand why he had done what he had done.

A superpower that allowed someone to take control of any sort of meat or flesh. Adrien had to laugh, thinking that it was actually a pretty cool sounding power, but it had left his arm feeling rather stiff. It did explain why he hadn't felt any pain, or lost any blood when it had been torn from his body. Everything being said and done though, the young model would readily admit, he had been outplayed. He'd lost, fair and square, despite trying as much as he could.

He needed to get far, far stronger.

His Traits still needed to grow, to evolve, to adapt, to expand. He wouldn't be much use to anyone if he was really this weak. As he thought of this, he remembered how Nino had disappeared, gone, totally vanishing from the scene of the battle after the guy with the power to phase through walls had taken him. If the match was over, then where was Nino? He could see Shinuya, talking with Fleisch just a few meters away, Rex, watching the battles, fully focused on absorbing all the information that he could, and that guy with the pitch black skin and red eyes, whose name Adrien forgot, leaning against a wall, looking rather vengeful.

That didn't do a thing to reassure Adrien.

"Hey, Alya, where'd Nino end up?"

Alya flinched, and looked away from her friend, not really sure how to explain what had happened to Adrien. Part of her wanted to lie, to tell him he was just in the bathroom or something, so the recently awoken blond wouldn't worry about his close friend. She knew that he'd find out eventually though, so she just sighed, and told him the truth. "He's... In the nurse's office. He's being treated for injuries. Lotta bruises, and lotta head trauma - He should be fine, he'll be up and walking by the end of the day... But the Intangible one really did a number on him."

The more Adrien listened, the more his anger build itself up inside the pit of his stomach, as all pain from his own injuries faded within seconds. He wasn't even aware that his knuckles had gone white from him gripping onto the pew he was sat at so tightly. The animalistic quirk that he had that let him purr when he slept, suddenly turned feral, as the sharper molars on the top and bottom rows his teeth grind against one another. He had to actively prevent his Destruction Trait from activating and destroying his seat.

He wouldn't attack Kuragari. Not yet, but the temptation was there. He could feel his body vanishing and himself forcing it to return, so his Teleportation Trait wouldn't activate. On the list of the many traits Adrien owned, superpowered or otherwise, he was extraordinarily loyal to anyone who earned that from him. He would stand with them, stand for them, and fight alongside them without complaint, and even get his hands dirty for those who earned such dedication from him.

And hearing that one of his friends had been so brutally treated... It made him want to scream in sheer anger towards Kuragari. It made him want to attack Kuragari without remorse, without holding back even an inch. He glared at the Intangible Trait user, wishing he had laser beam eyes instead of Destruction as his power.

For a brief second, Kuragari and Adrien locked eyes. It was only a brief exchange, a short amount of eye contact, but it told both of them exactly what the other was thinking. For Adrien, there was nothing more than sheer hatred.

From Kuragari, there was a look of regret, which made Adrien blink hard.

"Marinette's having her match right now... Though I don't think she's doing too well." Alya said, tapping Adrien's shoulders and pointing him to the screen that was broadcasting each of the matches in full. "Well, her team is... But she doesn't seem to be."

Flashes of light and a series of colourful moves and powers snapped Adrien away from the guilt that characterized Kuragari's eyes right now, and made him focus on the current fighting. He saw a master fighter, who could jump around the battlefield in perfect time and movement, versatile in his wide knowledge of how to use his power, and how to best beat down his enemies.

He also saw a bloodthirsty monster, whose every attack conveyed nothing but total savagery.

* * *

"Waste of my fucking time!"

Markus caused yet another explosion, smashing Brynne through a set of concrete walls from the sheer force of the impact. He took several deep breaths, smoke rising from his very black palms. He expressed annoyance. He'd expected a better fight. A fight that had actually been a challenge for him. Being one of the top hand-to-hand combatants was boring.

And it didn't improve his ability to fight.

The total barbarism that Markus expressed in combat was unparalleled. He was a true fighter, an absolute master of combat, and a warrior in the full extent of the word. The man showed a true talent for violence and conflict, and displayed absolutely no mercy. From using his Trait to boost his punches, or using his punches to boost his Trait, he showed utter destructive force, and physical prowess way beyond that of a Human's.

Speed, reflexes, and martial arts mastery. A broken battlefield, and three knocked out individuals were all that surrounded him.

Marinette wasn't sure which she was more, impressed, or absolutely terrified by his ability to fight. He was a perfectly co-ordinated, brutally destructive machine of combat that expressed only a desire for more combat. It was impressive, no doubt, that he was so honed into the art of battling, that he could practically dance around a combat zone like it was an icing rink, using his Trait creatively to gain speed, apply force, and turn his opponents against one another all while throwing perfectly executed punches and kicks. He almost made a war look like fun.

But the sheer beauty of his fighting skills were what made them all the more terrifying. Marinette would never, ever, want to be on the receiving end of such a monstrous assault.

And nor would Rose, whom seemed to be holding back tears after seeing the sheer brutal force used against her girlfriend and opponents. She wanted to stop it the second it had started, and had Marinette not stopped her, she would have. They were their enemies right now. They had to complete the objective, and the objective was to defeat the opponents, which was all Markus was doing. He was ruthless, but he was deliberate, never applying more force than he absolutely had to.

Not that this knowledge made it any easier to watch.

"Pathetic." Markus muttered, jumping down from the rubble he had positioned himself on at the end of the conflict. "That wasn't even a challenge. How the hell am I supposed to get any stronger if this is the best you people can muster up to fight me?"

As he walked away, one of his defeated subjects began to stir, not quite ready to allow their opponent the victory quite yet. An outreached hand began to shroud itself in darkness, and struck.

"Keep talkin'."

Upon the sentences completion, a serpent of shadows suddenly came crashing down from overhead, aiming to crush Markus into the ground. It was a last ditch effort, and Juleka knew it perfectly well. Even if she was able to take out the brutal fighter, she was in no state to take on Marinette, or Rose, god forbid if that was what it came to. This was more petty revenge, a statement that she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

But Markus had reflexes that were far too quick.

In a manner similar to that of slapping away an insect, Markus swatted away the strike with an explosion. He'd intentionally waited for the last possible second to make his strike, to maximize the damage output he would be able to give. Another example of his deliberate nature, and how he knew how to manipulate his opponents into doing what he wanted, and turning it around against them.

Now he knew where Juleka was, he wasted no time in darting over to where she was, and launching a strong kick to the side of her face that knocked her onto her back. "So, one of you is actually up!"

Blood dripping from her mouth, Juleka attempted one more strike, but was stopped almost instantly by Markus clobbering a huge, precise explosion into her chest. Not enough to take her out of commission, but easily enough to cause her some serious damage. The sheer impact of the strike shot straight through Juleka's body, and into the ground beneath her, which pushed her up from it into mid-air.

This time, Markus grabbed her throat and threw her into the wall with serious force. Unlike with the Pyrokinetic he'd sent flying through the wall, this one caused an impact crater, sending cracks randomly across the surface. The sheer force that he used sent a gust of wind shooting down the corridors, sending Marinette's hair into a mess as the impact shook through her. Juleka's eyes were shot wide open, and closed just as quickly as she fell unconscious.

Not that Markus cared.

When she began to fall, Markus used his right hand to cause yet another explosion, slamming her right back into the wall, and then grabbing her by the throat once more. His left hand began to crackle, far more tiny explosions igniting the Nitroglycerine that his hands released to feed the Trait he had.

"Wake the fuck up!"

His rhyme and reason was lost to him now. Now, he was just beating on the opposing team out of sheer frustration. Anger. Pent up rage that he wasn't getting a decent fight. His dedication to becoming a better fighter, a ruthless warrior that could use his powers to achieve the goal he had set himself, it would all be for nothing if he didn't even get a decent sparring session!

He attempted to swing, but he suddenly felt his arms being encased by a frozen, sub-zero temperature object. When he looked back, he saw his arm, his shoulder, and his wrist, all frozen in solid ice. The ice dug right into the cells of his skin, preventing them from moving freely, and the pain dug deep into his flesh.

Rose's Cryokinetic powers had fully activated, and the small girl was glaring at Markus, in a way that Marinette found absolutely horrific that Rose even possessed the capacity to look so intimidating. Rose was always seen with a smile on her face, a skip in her step. Even when dealing with Chloe being a jerk to her, she looked to try to look past that, and tried to be happy and social with her. Never had she glared in her entire life.

She looked truly terrifying when she glared.

As she spoke, condensation from the coldness her Trait filled her with escaped her mouth. She said three very crisp, clear words, with such icy venom that a fire would have been extinguished by it. "Let. Her. Go."

Under any other circumstance, any at all, Markus would have blasted the ice away and started to attack Rose with unrelenting explosive forces for stopping him from finishing off an opponent.

But he noticed his hand was starting to bleed. It was the drawback to using his powers the way he had been. The powers he held, they weren't designed for the way he was using them.

"...You have no fucking idea how lucky you are that I'm at my limit." He spat. He released Juleka, and blew up the ice around his arm. Not sparing a glare at the two of his 'teammates', he shoved past them once again. He knew the fight was over. There wasn't any point in sticking around.

Marinete watched as Rose attempted to check if Juleka was okay with a forehead dripping with sweat.

This had been... An intense introduction to the combat aspect of their course.


	15. Perks Of Being A Model

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out, there are some good sides to being a model, Adrien learns.

The Raiders.

An elite group of the absolute strongest Heroes known the world over. Famed for their exploits in hostage rescue and Villain hideout raiding, the Raiders were a symbol of what a Hero was meant to be. Just. Fair, and dedicated to the betterment of society and those around them, and ruthless to the Villains and their enemies, those who dare to threaten the peace that Humanity had striven for so long at the end of the Primal War, and the Great Trait War.

A constant request for people who were willing to get their hands dirty to keep society running went up by the end of the war. People who had the best training, the toughest wills, and the strongest powers. At that point, people didn't care where those fighters came from, if they were Human, Primal, or more recently, Abnormal.

Thus, the Raiders, who started as a group of volunteers, became of the most famous Hero Groups on the planet. With a near perfect mission success rate, and assignments to some of the most dangerous missions and combat zones known on the planet, they had become legends in the Hero business. Even the Abnormals, who had little time to learn of their exploits, couldn't help but be impressed by the track record of such legends.

The names of those who were members of this group of legendary Heroes became just that - Legends. Haritot Isin, the Hero known as Metal-Head, renowned for his courageous exploits throughout the conflict with Villains in Nairobi. Percival Heshona, more commonly known as Priest, the master of Exorcism to banish his opponents away. And Osteo Shinuya, the Founder and Leader of the Raiders, who still draws breath to this day, honoured during the Great Trait War, and known for his amazing Dual Trait, Endoskeleton and Exoskeleton, and how he would always charge head first into battle to save the innocent who needed it.

They were the Heroes the world needed during their darkest times.

But with this, came a very, very, very steep entry criteria.

Applying for such a group was out of the question, as applicants would flock from all over the world for day on end, only to be denied for a multitude of reasons. Too weak a Trait, not Heroic a reason, or the most common culprit, the pursuit of honour and glory. None of which made for a good Hero. Instead, the Raiders sent requests and offers to join to those they believed to be the embodiment of Heroism. The people they wanted to be serving alongside them in battle. The people who put the lives of others above their own, and walked the bloody road of a Hero with a smile.

Not at all like what Kuragari had done.

"Is he okay to see visitors?"

The nurse looked at Kuragari with a quizzical look, wondering if it was a good idea to allow her patient to see this student. After the violent display he had given in front of his classmates, all of which had been broadcast to the teachers throughout the day, so they could compare assessment notes, Kuragari had shown a true dark side to his personality. Inherently, his Trait was one of explicit, incredible power, one that if nurtured right, and in the hands of the right student, could create one of the strongest Heroes the world has seen so far.

On the flip side, it could create a monster. One Kuragari showed he shared traits with. A road of darkness was open to Kuragari at all times, one he would have to steer away from for the rest of his life if he desired to truly be a Hero. Today, he had taken a step down that path, and it showed with Nino Lahiffe.

For the moment though, Kuragari showed no signs of hostility. Rather, he showed the exact opposite of such an intention. It was rare to see him with any discernible expression, since his body language and face couldn't be read like anyone else's, due to his skin being the darkest shade of black possible, but what could be seen from his red eyes looked to be regret, remorse, and behind them, a boy who wanted to apologize for what he had done.

Lahiffe had woken only thirty minutes earlier, and the nurse wasn't entirely sure about him having guests... It was unknown what would happen if he wasn't ready, particularly not from this person.

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow him to have any -"

"It's okay, miss. Let him in for me?" Nino's voice came from the room, apparently revealing that he had been totally capable of hearing the conversation between the two. The nurse cursed herself for her forgetting that the walls of her workplace were rather thin.

Still, with his permission, the nurse nodded, and allowed Kuragari to enter. She would have opened the door for him, as would have been polite, had he not just walked straight through it.

Nino was covered in a few bandages and plasters, mostly of which covered his face. A few draped around his chest and stomach, and one around his arm, holding together a large cut that ran down the length. None of his injuries were anything too serious, and in reality, he shouldn't even really be staying in the room for a lot longer than he was. He was mostly in here to have check-ups to make sure no permanent damage had been done to his system. The chances of anything being seriously wrong with him were low, but the CFD took care of its students, whether they liked it or not.

Golden brown eyes met blood red ones as the two looked at one another, Nino, surprisingly, holding no contempt for Kuragari. There was a short awkward silence before the Hydrokinetic smiled. "Yo."

"...Hello."

"Good fight out there, dude." Nino complimented, not showing even a shred of anger towards the teenager in front of him. In the palm of his hand, he generated a small amount of water, collected from the condensation in the room, and small water particles. "Your guys got us good."

"Yeah..."

"You good, dude?"

"Not... Particularly... Are… Are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Little roughed up, but I'm still good. 'Sup?" Nino dispersed his collected water again in the room, allowing it to thin out like water vapour. Doing so caused the windows to steam up just a tiny bit. He'd been repeating this process over and over for the last few minutes, bored out of his skull.

Despite having the best of intentions, Kuragari was not the best when it came to apologizing, being a very proud individual. Plus, such an action after beating someone within an inch of their life? It wasn't the sort of thing you could expect forgiveness for. His red teeth crashed against one another as he gritted his teeth. "Urgh..."

He knew that it wasn't going to speed up the process to just draw it out due to his own pride, but still, Kuragari wasn't sure how exactly he was supposed to go about putting this. 'Sorry for almost killing you.' Didn't exactly work in this situation. It almost sounded inherently insincere.

Instead, Kuragari wound up staring at the floor. How he'd gotten himself into this situation, he'd no idea. Many people in this scenario would wish for a trap door to pen up and whisk them away, or for them to fall straight through the floor. The ironic thing with Kuragari was that he could do that, but everyone knew that, so it didn't have the same shock value, nor would it actually serve as an excuse.

Seeing that he wasn't going to make the first move in the conversation, the patient spoke up. "Hey dude, you said you wanted to be a Raider, right?" Nino asked, with an eyebrow raised. When Kuragari looked up at Nino, eye wide, Nino asked again. "The Hero group, the Raiders. You wanna join them, yeah? You said something like that during our fight."

"...I do. I want to be a Raider." The Intangible Trait user confirmed, nodding his head, slowly, for the first time in his life. It marked the very first time he was ever hesitant when it came to answering his ambitions. All thanks to the doubt, now seeded firmly in his head. "But... I don't think I can be..."

"Why not?"

"You said so yourself... Someone who loses their mind over such a comment... Really isn't the sort of person you want saving hostages, is it?" It was like having a Pyrokinetic in a house full of timber and flammable fabrics. The two didn't mix in the slightest, and you were asking for a disaster. Anyone involved in hostage situations had to know when to be calm under pressure, and not allow emotion to rule their brains. And Kuragari wasn't capable of that.

"I thought you'd make a good Raider." Nino said, casually, collecting water in his palms again.

"H-Huh?"

"Your Trait is perfect for it, and your attitude to Heroism is pretty good too. You're here because you wanna prove people wrong, right? That you don't need to look like a Hero to be a Hero. Lotta people get turned off following our path because they don't have the looks of a regular Human, or they think they're too scary to be a Hero... You're here proving that wrong. I don't see why that isn't a thing the Raiders wouldn't want."

Kuragari didn't get to apologize for what he'd done due to Nino's insist talking, but Nino knew just why he'd come into the room that day in the first place. He didn't need an apology. He knew he had been just as out of line as Kuragari had been, but he couldn't help but admire to conviction that he displayed. The two of them spent the next half hour telling jokes and laughing. Friendship forged through combat, as it were.

* * *

"Mr. Agreste, a word?"

Adrien had been on his way to see Nino in his checkout room, when he had been coincidental enough to run into the headmaster, Mr. Damocles. He was a large man, whom had a large variety of various facial hair. Adrien had no idea what his Trait was, as he'd made his position very clear - He didn't condemn the use of powers unless absolutely necessary. To this end, he didn't even use his own, nor did he explain what his own Trait was, unless a situation he felt needed it arose, which in this school, it never seemed to.

Whatever it was, in the same way Adrien's genes made him a bit cat-like, Mr Damocles' must have made him owl like, since he resembled one rather well, and lined in his office, were a large number of pictures and references to the well evolved hunting creature. His eyes, bright and orange and large, even resembled those of the avian creature.

The blond boy knew that Damocles was a mighty Hero back in the day... But he had no idea which one he was. He was built up on reputation alone, nothing but. Naturally, Adrien respected him, but couldn't help but wonder the many mysteries behind his life.

"Yes, sir? What can I do for you?" His formal language, from years of being raised by a strict father, came into being as he addressed his elder.

"You're rather polite, aren't you?" Mr Damocles observed, his beard and moustache hiding the smile on his face. "Am I correct in assuming your father raised you to be so polite?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, Gabriel and I, we go back a long time... But that's not relevant to the current topic. I understand you do modelling for your father's business outside of school hours, and that you have done for many years?" Adrien nodded. "I've seen some of your ads. You've got the natural gift for the camera."

"Thank you, sir..." Where was the headmaster of the CFD going with this?... Was his modelling an issue for some reason now?...

Reality was, it was the exact opposite.

"I was wondering if it would at all be possible to ask you to help your teachers out this Monday."

"How so?" Curiosity overrode formality, as Adrien dropped the polite honorifics.

"Your teachers have expressed to me their plans to get you and your classmates... Suited up, as it were." Damocles seemed to choose his words carefully, as if he were leading Adrien on down the path of wonder in order to further intrigue him. "I thought it would be an idea to have a model such as yourself display to students why their... Uniforms must be well crafted."

Adrien's eyes suddenly shimmered, and a smile plastered its way onto his lips. "Sir, are you talking about... Our Hero Costumes?"

"If you could design one today, we can have it made and sent to you for Monday" Mr Damocles grinned as he saw Adrien's interest skyrocket.

"Actually sir... I already have a design I've been working on!"

"Oh?"

Reaching into the pocket of his back, Adrien rummaged around, his hand brushing against textbooks, pencils, one of which was worryingly sharp, paper... Paper! There it was. He gently pulled out the design from his back, glanced over it once, and handed the sheet to Mr Damocles. While he'd only recently drawn it, he'd had the idea in his head for years. He knew how he wanted his Hero costume to look.

* * *

Ree Harland was, academically, a genius. Whenever faced with a test, she would ace it, every time, without any effort being needed on her part whatsoever, to the point where it almost was boring for her. She would spend hours of her life waiting, just waiting, for the bell to ring so she could do something more entertaining instead of waiting for everyone else around her to finish their tests.

More to her than just her academic prowess however, Ree was naturally a flexible, and incredible acrobat. None of it came from her Trait, or some sort of modification her body had undergone during her puberty stages - She was just naturally this good. Triple somersaults in mid-air were absolutely no challenge for her in any way. Surprising no one, she became an incredible adept fighter, using her physical abilities to take down her opponents without the use of her Trait. Using her power as a last resort allowed her to ruthlessly batter her opponents down in a combination of strict, and her own freestyle martial arts.

A prodigy in both her intellect and her physical abilities, it was a wonder that she wasn't accepted into the CFD... Well, actually, it wasn't. Instead, she had attended classes in Britain, going to the Oxford Hero Academy, one of the only two schools that was held in higher regard than the CFD.

But being accepted and brought into the Agreste household to act as Gabriel's understudy was probably the cushioniest position she could have asked for given her past. A comfortable position that kept her sheltered and fed.

So she had to ask - How on earth had she wound up in a sparring match against Adrien again?

"Rrrrrraargh!"

No Traits. No weapons. No powers, and no costumes. That was the ruleset Adrien had asked for. He wanted a full on contact hand-to-hand sparring match. The introduction on Saturday, their introduction to the way that the Hero course was going to be from now on, told him he needed to get stronger by whatever means he had to. He needed to work on his disadvantages and hone his strengths. Hand-to-hand combat was all he would be able to do, but if his Teleportation Trait failed... He wouldn't be able to rely on his fighting style.

So he needed to get better at going at it Traitless.

The blond model charged in again, his body close to the ground and his arms at either side in fists. He might as well have been signalling his attacks with giant skylights for all the subtly he had. Ree knew he was a good fighter, no doubt. She had watched the boy training, and knew from reputation alone that he was revered as a fighter throughout Paris. Many Heroes had their eye on him, wanting to train him as a sidekick when he was of age. Indeed, she had even seen the footage of him fearlessly taking on two Villains before.

Indeed, he was a skilled and talented fighter, and as a Hero, he would have a bright future in his hands.

But she was far, far better.

A smirk came onto her lips, as Adrien leaped forward, throwing a flurry of left and right hooks with speed that was impressive, but easily predictable. A left hook came first, which Ree simply stepped backwards in response to, since Adrien hadn't bothered to gather range on his target. He came up short, but quickly came through with a right hook, this time having a better grasp on how far back his target could move. Ree this time sidestepped, causing the momentum Adrien had put into his hook to take him right past her.

One growl later, Adrien tossed a spinning back kick at Ree, who just ducked underneath it, her self-assured smirk still firmly attached to her face. She never lost that smile when she was in combat, and never when she knew she had the upper hand.

Missing this, Adrien went full on with a barrage of punches and kicks to the head and torso region, each of which Ree dodged expertly and allowing for narrow movements, all while remaining light on her feet. Left hook, lean right, right cross, skid left, left hook again, lean further back, another right reverse punch, duck down, jab in the abdomen, and sweep with the legs and backflip a meter away, leaving Adrien on the ground in an exhausted mess.

The difference in their fighting styles was so obvious that it couldn't have been made clearer if they tried to make it so. Adrien relied heavily on his Teleportation Trait to get him out of bad situations, so he had come up with a very rigid, strict fighting style. Hard hitting strikes, combined with the speed and unpredictability of his Teleporting abilities, allowed him to forgo the need for highly tuned reflexes and fighting style. He just used brute force when and where he needed it.

It totally juxtaposed Ree's combat style. And was heavily countered by it.

Ree allowed her opponents to attack and wear themselves down, dodging and keeping her opponents bodies close to hers. The combination of her physical strength and her natural flexibility allowed her to totally avoid any and all attempts of landing hits on her. Speed was the name of the game for Ree's mixed martial arts combat, something that, without his Trait, Adrien lacked. Next, the intern would attack her opponents with short, controlled, yet ruthless attacks, never allowing her opponents to land more than a graze on her. And afterwards, a harsh, brutal counter.

"Are you finished yet, Adrien?" She asked the currently collapsed boy, chuckling to herself. It amused her that despite coming to her and asking her for a match, so full of bravado, that he'd managed to fall apart this quickly.

"Nope!" Adrien remarked, nearly too cheerfully for someone who had literally just been knocked off their feet by the opponent.

He picked himself up and ran again, this time, lunging forward with a right punch. His fighting style offered no subtlety to his actions, a huge flaw for Teleporters who relied on their Traits in combat. The issue Adrien in particular had was that thanks to his Destruction trait, all he knew was hard-hitting. His fighting style, when in combined use with his Traits, just didn't require him to have a complicated and dance-like style like Ree did. All he needed was pure muscle, force, and a reasonable set of reflexes, and he was golden.

But now, he wanted to improve his array of skills, and to do this, he needed to erase everything he'd previously learned about fighting. He thought the best way to do that would be to fight someone who had a totally different way of dealing with conflict than he did.

The only thing that was happening was that he was getting his ass kicked.

This time, Ree used her own right hand to push Adrien's lunge to the side, and then slam a left punch into his back with ruthless force. This was a move she liked to call her stopper, designed to knock the fight right out of her opponents. By hitting an opponent on the upper back, she was able to send a powerful open-palmed blow to the pulmonary plexus. A strike here could force residual air out of the lungs, momentarily stopping the breath and triggering a spasm in the diaphragm as her opponent struggles to breathe. Full force, it could knock someone out. Of course, Against Adrien, she didn't apply that much force, but it was enough to cause him some pain.

"Gakk!" Adrien coughed, collapsing onto the ground a second time.

"Honestly." Ree sighed as Adrien struggled to gather the oxygen lost again. The grin hadn't gone from her face, still there as her tone became slightly mocking, while remaining friendly all the while. "You know you can't beat me with your fighting style, right? You're not fast enough."

Small chuckles came in place of coughs as Adrien stood up. "Hah... You're... Calling a Teleporter... Slow?"

"Well, you're not Teleporting, are you?" She reminded him, folding her arms. "You're way too rigid. You make it far, far too easy for me to dodge your attacks. When you Teleport, it doesn't matter so much, but against me, someone who has speed, without it? You're pretty much a punching bag."

"So you want me to relax? That's it?"

"That, and take some gymnastic classes." Ree grinned. "Maybe learn a pirouette or two. At least then if being a Hero doesn't work out, your backup career as a ballerina will look bright."

Responding with a series of punches and kicks one again, Adrien lashed out in full, causing Ree to have to watch her step as she dodged the rapid combination of kicks, punches, and the occasional attempted head-butt that the headstrong student would attempt to unleash against her. Her flexibility came in use then.

Stepping forward into another punch, Adrien missed Ree by about a fraction of a centimetre, allowing her to grab hold of his arm, and, while not letting go, flip onto his back, where she lodged a knee uncomfortably into his shoulder, and threw him overhead onto the ground.

As she fell, she did a front flip, before landing above his chest, her legs apart, and her hand just above his throat. With the force she was moving at, had the hand connected with the French boys' neck, his windpipe would have been crushed.

"Checkmate."

Groaning, Adrien let his head slump onto the grass below him. "Well fought..."

He wasn't normally a cocky person. He had a great deal of faith when it came to his skills as a fighter however, and he was convinced that he was one of the strongest fighters in the CFD. He rarely lost in fights, but when he did, he took them as opportunities to learn, to grow, to adapt his way of fighting into a more effective method of combat. The loss against Fleisch and Rex had marked the first time he'd really taken a loss poorly.

Saying he was one of the strongest fighters in the Hero course... That was probably true. In fact, it was true. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagreed with that statement. Everyone thought that Adrien was probably the best fighter that there was in the entire Hero course. He was a damn good warrior… But saying he was one of the best in the entire CFD now?

He was a good fighter against Humans. No doubt about it. But Abnormals and Primals?... He'd been brutally beaten down so quickly he'd barely had enough time to register what was happening to him each time. Sneak attacks, unexpected strategies, Primalitiy's and Abnormality's that Adrien had never even seen, or even thought could exist…

Adrien needed to get stronger, to learn to become a better fighter. He had to. And he needed to do it as quickly as possible, in as many ways as possible.

"You're a pretty good fighter, but you leave yourself way too open. All your enemy needs is one good swing, and you're out." Ree told him, helping him up.

He couldn't suppress the chuckle in his chest. He'd learned that way too well against Sunstreak. "I guess you're right... Hey, thanks for the match. I know you're normally busy these days, with father."

"Not a problem, Adrien. My duties don't start until you leave. Speaking of which, your classes start in a few moments. Perhaps you should Teleport over there."

"Right, thanks!" Adrien bowed, before he reached for his bag, tossed casually at the side of the wall that encased the Agreste estate. There was a few moments before classes started, and he could probably get there in time if he Teleported there.

Though, he wanted to ask a question...

"Hey, Ree?"

The older girl turned to look at the young student, still sweating from the fight, and currently trying to slip into his jacket. "Yes?"

"What is your Trait? I don't think I've ever seen it before." He knew that the live-in intern was a very secretive person, and didn't like to share too much information about herself, even with the people she was close to. Adrien had known her for several months now, and had established a good relationship with her, but he still knew next to nothing about her. She remained elusive to hm. An enigma. Someone who didn't want the world to focus its attention onto her.

Just an intern. Nothing more, nothing less.

She just smiled. "If you ever push me to the point where I need to use it, you'll know." She suddenly found her foot tapping against something metallic. Looking down, she saw a steel briefcase. Adrien's, required for a demonstration he had been asked to do for the day, since his father was a Designer, and he a model. She tapped it with her foot a couple more times before Adrien dashed away. "Don't forget your costume."

"Unfair." Adrien smiled, referring to his question to her Trait, before disappearing into a puff of black smoke. He reappeared right by her, grabbed the suitcase, and disappeared once more, and started to make his way across the grand European city, towards the famous, and well renowned school he attended, onto learning how to achieve his ultimate goal.

Ree sighed. She re-bundled her jet-black dyed hair into neat, presentable bundles, as Gabriel preferred she wear them as in her work hours. She donned a set of spectacles, and carried herself in a composed and dignified manner, similar to that she had seen Nathalie carry herself with.

She made her way with care into the Agreste manor, where she was greeted by Gabriel, stood upright, his hands firmly tucked away behind his back, awaiting her arrival.

He had an incredible talent when it came to intimidation, even when it was clear he wasn't try to be. Just standing there, he could be smiling to a crowd of children as he gave them all sweets and candy, and he'd still look like the master of all things evil.

Which, in a sense, he was.

"I hope you understand he's as valid a target as any other Hero." He spoke in a menacing tone, laced with his authoritative personality. That dark voice, that uncaring coldness, that total disregard, even for his own son... It was what made Gabriel Agreste a ruthless individual.

"Of course, sir." Ree responded monotone in her response, like a trained puppy.

"Good... Preparations are still underway. I suspect that the CFD will begin its preparation of its first year students." Gabriel looked aside, and motioned for Ree to follow him as he walked down the large hallway that linked his backdoor to his foyer, the floor layered with expensive marble, and plenty of empty rooms behind a large number of enormous doors. Planning rooms, most certainly. To house a large number of guests to discuss various matters.

"Do you... Have any requests, sir?" Ree asked, timidly.

Gabriel didn't speak for a while, as he considered the past few events that had transpired over the last week. He's lost access to Sunstreak, one of his strongest subordinates in terms of pure devastating power. The attacks had been aimed at distracting local law enforcement while he and the rest of his group went about their businesses, stealing the pieces and gathering the information needed on that damned amulet that would aid in their plans so much.

And out from nowhere, had come two more Vigilantes.

Not affiliated with those damn Traitors... At least, not yet. Gabriel knew very little about them, only knowing what he knew from Sunstreaks reports before the moron had managed to get himself arrested, and from the news reports that he had seen.

Ladybug and Chat Noir...

Albeit obvious where the technology came from, Gabriel had not expected Siddiq to have gotten involved when it came to Vigilantism. Perhaps he didn't know. He was the number one rival in terms of designs for Heroes and their costume modifications to the Agreste brand, but his means were less than legal, so Gabriel had kept tight lipped, seeing no harm in what was being done, at least not against him. So undercover, people barely knew about Siddiq, so as long as he didn't step out of line, he was allowed to work. Doing anything about him would only attract attention.

Now however...

He needed to know the identities of these new pests, before they could cause more damage to his operations.

"Call in Fragman and Wipe-Out. I have a visit to make to an acquaintance regarding the passing on of some interesting technology." Gabriel told his intern, making his way to his master bedroom to acquire his costume.

"Yes, Hawkmoth, sir."

* * *

The Hero course students were filled with a mixture of enthused and solemn in the classroom. Some were still recovering from the look into the rest of the course, and the real shock that had struck some of them, like Nathaniel and Mylene, but many expressed excitement, and a serious, genuine enthusiasm for learning the best ways to improve themselves. To become better Heroes, and people as a result.

The subjects a lot of students seemed to be enjoying right now were the identities of their new training partners, the students from the Valour and Elite Courses. Many of them had remain unseen by the Hero students, always busy and working to cram four years of General Studies into one singular year. Wrapped in their own world, many students outside their class had gone completely unnoticed. Now that they had the time to look around, the Hero Students found themselves in a rare seat of luxury to be able to examine their fellow students.

"You see that dude who's right side was like, I dunno, bulging?"

"Nino." Alya just looked at him from the corner of her eye in disgust, trying to instead focus on Marinette, who whom she was discussing Fleisch with. "Don't."

"I'm serious! The right side of him was like, ripped as hell, but the left side was skin and bones!"

"I think I actually do remember seeing a guy like that." Alix commented from her seat, her feet up on the desk, which she peered over. Alix was one of the students who had won her battle against several opponents, so naturally, her confidence had remained completely intact. "Guy had hair on his skinny side, but was bald on the macho one, right?"

"Yeah, that dude!" Nino snapped his fingers as he confirmed this.

"I dunno, I was more worried about that guy who could go through walls. The one you fought, Nino." Kim said, remembering the fight very well. He'd been on the edge of his seat throughout it, wondering what would happen. After seeing Nino hospitalized, that worry had only intensified.

"Kuragari? Nah, he's chillaxed." The Moroccan dismissed the concern with a waft of his hand. He'd explained the situation with him and Kuragari to his classmates once before, but it wasn't like he couldn't understand how they'd come to that conclusion about his new friend.

"What about the fire girl?" Nathaniel suggested. "She seemed pretty dangerous."

"I think that Technopath is the real dangerous one." Marinette said, her nervousness suddenly making her the centre of attention, and the way she nearly whispered her statement suddenly making her worry about the Abnormal clear. "I mean... You saw what he did with Adrien... And how he acted about Humans..."

"That Rex dude, right?" Alya inquired, remembering the cog-eyed Abnormal fixing her phone for her. She held the electrical device in her hand, and looked at it, wondering just what the limits of the Technopath had. "...I didn't even know Abnormals could wield multiple powers..."

"And the guy doesn't seem like... All there, y'know?"

"Yeah..."

"No way! That Markus lunatic has to be the worst!" Rose surprisingly stood up, berating the Explosive Trait user with a worrying level of anger and vigour.

While Marinette was engaged, and listening to the conversation her classmates were having about their fellow schoolmates, she wasn't focused entirely on it. The empty seat by Nino had her concerned. Adrien was normally one of the first students there, and with his Teleportation abilities, he never was late, at any point, so, where was he?

Had his fight left him more injured than she had believed him to be? The loss of an arm had to be fairly traumatic an experience, and not to mention the way Rex had ruthlessly detonated a device directly on his person. He'd been clobbered around in the fight, barely even getting the chance to show off his own powers in any way.

Were his injuries a lot worse than previously expected?

"Okay students, take your seats."

Ms. Mendeleiev threw open the door to find her class in shambles, none of them sat at their desks, all into small groups and crowds, talking, and just generally an absolute mess. Every student knew that the second that this teacher showed up, it was time to sit down and shut up, or incur her wrath, something they all would rather avoid. She was followed by their far softer teacher, Miss Bustier, whom had to crouch down in order to get her Trait's large Angel Wings through the door.

Quickly, each of the students made their way to their designated seats before Ms Mendeleiev snapped at them again, or used her Petrification Trait on them again. Both teachers stood up at the front of the class, Miss Bustier holding a selection of whiteboards and marker pens in each of her hands.

"After your first look into the next few years here at Collège Françoise Dupont, We'd like to welcome you back after what we hope has been a Sunday of recovery and reflection." Miss Bustier said, greeting her students back to their daily grind of schoolwork and training.

"Now's the beginning of a fresh week." Ms Mendeleiev snapped. "One that you will find has not been like your previous year with this school, but I shall get into that later. For now, you have some choices you need to make before we continue further into this year."

Suddenly, everyone became quiet. Choices? What choices were there to make? Classes? Or was it something else? A few students felt a single bead of sweat run down their faces, and a few others gulped.

"Each of you will be required to choose a Hero name, and design a costume that you will be using for practice sessions in the future."

The room suddenly erupted in cheers and thrown up arms, which both teachers allowed.

Hero Names and Hero Costumes! These were the single two most defining features of any Hero you'd care to name. A Hero's name was spoken in conversation with reverence, and would live on in the ages, representing their country, their species on the face of the Earth territories.

And the costume! Everyone loved a good Hero costume!

"All Riii-iiight!"

"Woo!"

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, the tense atmosphere was replaced with one filled with energy and excitement! This was something every single student looked forward to when they chose to join a Hero course of any sort whatsoever, no matter where they were in the world, or what school it was they attended!

Marinette suddenly felt a smile tug at her lips at the announcement. Design, one of her favourite things to do in this world, and now, she'd get so show off just how much she knew about a Hero's costume design!

"Alright, alright, settle down." Ms Mendeleiev strictly commanded. Her commands were heeded instantly, but none of the students could wipe the grins off their faces, some bobbing up and down in their seats with energy. "As I'm sure you're all aware, this society puts a high value on the way a Hero looks, and the name a Hero is known by. But these aren't the sole function of your costumes."

"Hero costumes are a way to help your abilities to be enhanced by your Traits, Primality's, or whatever set of powers that you have. Since everyone in this room has Traits, there shouldn't be a problem with helping them fit your powers." Ms Bustier explained to the class, all listening intently. "As students, your powers may have not fully manifested yet. As you mature, you may experience Trait mutation or growth, much like a muscle. It is important, therefore, that your costume is capable of increasing the level of power that you have now, but making sure that they are also functional for later on in life. You will be able to make alterations at certain times throughout the year, and by the time you leave, we hope to have you all leaving with fully prepared, intact, and functional Hero Costumes."

"Names are a far simpler matter." The purple haired Petrification Trait user said. "They are simply code names. This is to hide your identity from Villains who might be able to escape you, so they will not be able to trace your name back to you. It is also, admittedly, an indulgence of this business, and your name will be what puts you in the spotlight as you become more known throughout this world."

Common knowledge to every student in the room, but interesting and entertaining to hear nonetheless. Marinette was already sketching down ideas for her costume, to which Alya was peering over the blue haired girl's shoulder to get a peek at.

"We understand that very few of you will be aware of just how much thought has to go into planning a Hero costume, so we've asked for a volunteer to show you the level of thought you must put in, and how each choice made will come together to create the full package." Their teacher continued to explain. "Adrien, would you please come in now?"

Marinette's pencil nub suddenly snapped off when she heard the name of her crush being called out, and her head shot to focus on the door.

No one came through.

Instead, black smoke appeared right in front of the classroom, next to the teachers, the usual side effect of the blond boys Teleportation Trait. From that cloud of dust, a huge grin on his face which showed off every single one of his teeth, he rose up, pushing aside the smoke with his hands as he displayed himself for all to see.

His costume was certainly impressive.

The first thing worth noting was that he wore a regular black tank top, not unlike the one he wore during Gym classes, except this one was a lot darker than he normally wore, and showed off a bit more of his chest muscles. Both of his arms were totally bare, showing off the well-toned body that he had. The only exception on his arms were his elbows. Wrapped around where his distal biceps tendon would be, were a set of small, very thin leather string like ropes, connecting a blunt shoulder bad to Adrien's elbows. The cover of said pad was also leather, so his Trait wouldn't destroy the metal guard around his joint.

Below his waist, he wore what seemed to be a rather baggy set of trousers, which also seemed rather thin and allowed for decent flexibility. Around his legs were sets of rustic looked plated armour, the kneecaps blunt, like the ones around the models elbows. They were silver in colour, and were the brightest thing on his person. They covered both the front and back of his leg parts, but seemed to remain flexible, and not constricting in any way. Around his waist, attached the a black belt that went around him, was a dark grey cape, that reached just above his shins, short enough that he wouldn't trip over the cloth whenever he was running.

His boots were military standard, steel tipped appliances that didn't have shoelaces, but instead, used a form of magnetic fastening to keep them tight around his feet, so that he needed not concern himself with that during combat. There were a series of five of these points along his black boots, all steel grey, jutting out very slightly from the boots, so they would be easy for Adrien to unfasted, but in the heat of combat, would be nearly impossible to pull off.

Finally, his face. Wrapped around his eyes, with only two holes so he could allow his green eyes to peer out, was a raggedly cut dark fabric which was solid black, that went around his head, and at the back, two flare-like appendages shot out, going well away from the rest of the models body.

He honestly looked like a Hero in his costume, and he was showing it off incredibly well. He was a model after all, so it wasn't like he didn't know how to show off a set of clothing, but this felt different. This felt like something he had real pride in. Real emotion had gone into this costume. And he was proud of what he had made.

"Adrien! Dude, you look sick!" Nino yelled, laughing as he complimented his friend.

Smirking at his Friend, Adrien nodded. The sentiment was shared by many of his classmates, some who clapped, some who cheered, and some who just watched out of pure interest.

"Adrien, would you please explain to the class the functionality of your costume?" Ms Mendeleiev requested, although it was obvious, should Adrien decline, he'd be punished. Not that Adrien had any sort of intention to decline - He'd agreed to this after all. It was why he got his costume before anyone else did.

"Yes Ms Mendeleiev." Adrien nodded, before turning to his classmates, who all had their eyes focused on him completely. The normally shy personality Adrien had melted away due to his enthusiasm for his costume that he wanted to show off a little. He began to explain to a crowd of eager listeners. "Well, designing my costume, I needed to keep in mind both my Destruction Trait and My Teleportation Trait. Because I have a Dual Trait mutation, I needed a costume that could help make both of these abilities stronger in combat. And this is what I came up with.

First of all, my arms - I left them bare because, surprise surprise, Destruction disintegrates anything on my arms, not just on my hands. It's why I wear short sleeves shirts all the time. But I don't destroy leather. Depending on the force, I can completely push my power through leather, so I designed these hooks around my arms so I could have blunt metal pads for my elbows. They're there to help me use elbow strikes in combat. I didn't put leather around my arms because of my drawback. If I use my Destructive Trait for too long, my skin peels off and disintegrates, and leather would dig into my muscles, making it way too uncomfortable to continue fighting in. Plus, without it, I'm more flexible. The tank tops there just so I can move around easier. It's made of durable and heat resistant materials, so I don't have to worry about anyone who might be shooting fire at me.

As for my legs, they armour plating is made of a material called Neo-Magnesium. It's strong as steel, bends without snapping, and its light as paper. They're about an inch thick, so it's hard to break them at all. I added these because when I Teleport in a fight, I tend to use kicks more, because I can easily aim for the head. This helps out my damage output. Same thing for the steel-tip boots. The capes made of the same material as my tank top is, plus it also helps hide my leg armour, so opponents won't know about it until we're in a fight.

Plus... Along with my face mask, I just think they look cool! The mask is tied up at the pack with a special pin that reacts to body heat, and keeps the mask from becoming undone in a fight. And... That's my Hero costume!" Adrien finally finished his long winded justification, to which he received a loud cheer and a round of applause. Only now did Adrien feel any sort of embarrassment, and blushed, laughing awkwardly while scratching the back of his head, careful not to knock out the previously mentioned pin.

Marinette couldn't help but clap alongside her classmates, absolutely stunned by how much thought had gone into his design work. Of course, she should have expected it, since he was the son of a world famous Designer, but it still impressed her that he had come up with the design and the points himself. Just another thing to admire about his already impressively long list of quirks.

"Fantastic work, Adrien." Miss Bustier praised Adrien, before asking him one final question. "Do you already have a Hero name in mind?"

"I do." Adrien smiled. "My powers..." He activated his Destruction Trait, sending the black rivets up his arms once again. "My powers destroy atoms at the building blocks of their foundation. I essentially speed up the decaying process whenever I touch something. I completely destroy it... So, that's what I want to be called."

He turned and faced the class, and held up his black arm, turning it into a fist and grinning. 

"My Hero name is gonna be 'Decay'!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ree is actually a fan suggested OC from Fanfiction.Net. You can suggest ideas of your own if you like. I LOVE hearing fan made OC's with unique superpowers and abilities. If you feel like helping the story out, for for it, but by NO means feel compelled to. Just being here is enough to make me smile guys ^_^ 
> 
> If you do decide to submit one, the more detail, the more clearly presented, the better. Get creative with the powers. Have fun ^_^


	16. Our Hero Names And Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class chose their Hero names, and Designs their costumes.

Inspired by their classmates display of his costume, the Hero course students took to creating their own costumes and brainstorming their own Hero names like a bolt of lightning. Everyone had at least given it some thought in the past, how they wanted their Hero to look, what they wanted their name to be. Some wanted to go for the retro image, inspired by the senior Heroes gone past, whereas some set their sights on the future, wanting to look like warriors from space, and everything in-between.

Adrien, or Decay now, was their example, their figure that they needed to aim for, and it was difficult to deny the effect his costume had on him. Not only did he have the altruism of a Hero, he now had the appearance of one. The mostly black and grey costume gave Adrien an intimidating quality about him. Brutality in the name of peace was what this costume seemed to express. Heroism, at the end of the day, was a brutal lifestyle to live with, and if one could make a Villain cower and not even fight based solely on appearance, then it was a very acceptable method of doing ones job.

And even then, Adrien's costume was heavily practical. He's chosen each material and where it went with extreme care, making sure that not an inch of his person was wasted in the pursuit of creating the perfect costume that matched his powers.

When he was in his Hero costume, he needed to emphasise what he was good at. He knew that, and he'd applied all of this accordingly.

At least, that's what Marinette thought.

She was still impressed by the level of thought that went into his outfit, watching as he brushed his waistline cape to the side of his legs a bit, allowing it to wrap around his metal armoured limb, hiding said rustic silver armour with the dark grey that was his waist cape. Adrien had a better eye for design than she thought.

Marinette was probably the best person to talk to when it came to Designing a costume, since she fully understood how all of the process worked. Costumes were a personal thing, something that helped craft your identity as a Hero, so asking someone else to do the entire Design was just unthinkable to many, which was why classes dedicated to this were even a thing. The Designs would be taken in by the end of the lesson, and would then proceed to be sent to students in the Design course. They would then be tasked with creating, and making modifications, to the costume based on the Design and the information given to them about each student and their Traits. After being checked over by a professional, who would make any slight modifications they felt were necessary, they would then be sent back to the Hero course students as fully completed costumes. Modifications would be allowed at any given time, but could take up to several weeks to complete, meaning that each student needed to make the Designs are clear and functional as possible, to avoid having to do so. Not having a costume would put someone at a disadvantage for when they needed it.

Beside her, Alya was sketching a bunch of different ideas down for her Hero costume, most of them involving some sort of black jumpsuit, with slots available around her wrists for whatever reason. Given the functionality of her Broadband Trait, Marinette would assume her costume would be rather high-tech, giving her an advantage whenever she wound up in combat.

Indeed, everyone in the room was sketching and discussing various ideas for Hero names and costumes, throwing suggestions back and forth, and thinking up ways to boost their powers with their costumes.

Kim had asked their teachers about the possibility of some sort of storage tank that could absorb and unleash a huge level of lava upon an opponent, or perhaps a device that could extend the range he had with his Trait. He was one of the students who had wanted to focus on the combat aspect of his superpowers, enhancing his strengths while limiting his weaknesses.

For someone like Nino though, a storage tank was basically a requirement. Since he could only control water that was premade, he required a way of storing water on his person for later use. A costume was, to Nino, a necessity to become a viable Hero.

Other people like Sabrina, who suffered from such drawbacks as migraines and headaches from an overexertion of her powers, focused on helping limit those weaknesses rather than boosting the effectiveness of her Mind Reader Trait. There wasn't much that could enhance her power, so limiting the negative feedback from using it was the smartest choice. This also allowed her to focus more on her appearance than practicality.

Everyone was really getting into the forging of their Hero identities all around her, and while Marinette would have loved the atmosphere in any other situation since it would have reminded her of her own enthusiasm for Designing, she was struggling for ideas for her own costume. She had a general idea on how she intended to boost her Trait, knowing she'd need access to plenty of materials, preferably alloys, that she would be able to easily get her hands towards in order for her to make the most of her powers. But otherwise, she wondered what else there was that she could do.

That wasn't to say, Marinette had no issues when it came to ideas for other people's costumes. Again, indebted to the Designer inside her, she could easily look at the Traits of other people, and think of practical and stylish ways for their powers to be magnified. It was attributed to her own selflessness and consideration for other people that helped contribute to this, her thinking of putting others ahead of herself.

In keeping with this theme, Marinette looked over to her right, to see Mylene with her back slumped against her seat, and her pencil aimlessly ghosting over her Design sheet. Mylene was struggling to come up with ideas. Excluding a set of bracers to help prevent the bone breaking aspect of her Trait, she didn't have any ideas anymore, excluding visual things. She looked worried. Silently, she had been hoping her costume would present her with a new way to fight, to help her with her timid nature, but that was looking less and less like the case.

As Ladybug, Marinette remembered her encounter with the girl, and knew the doubts she had, and felt like she'd come up with an idea for her costume. "Mylene." Marinette called over, leaning closer to shorten the gap between them, so she could better peer at the dreadlocked girl's Design sheet, covered in scribbles and crossings out.

"Y-Yes, Marinette?" Mylene looked at the talented Designer, half of her expecting Marinette to tease her lack of creativity and practicality, even when she knew fully well that Marinette wasn't like that at all.

"I think I have an idea for your costume." She smiled warmly as she went over her suggestion. "The Designers should be able to create something that might work. I was thinking of a conversion device. Something that can absorb the kinetic energy your Push Trait creates, and expels it as heavy winds. It'd give you a ranged attack, so you could keep your distance."

"They can do that?" Alya asked, leaning forward to see the interaction between Marinette and Mylene better.

"Of course they can. I used to do Design, remember? Creating something to convert just pure pushing power into another form probably won't be that difficult." Marinette responded, not taking her eyes off Mylene. "It's just a suggestion, I just thought that maybe you'd like to know."

"That - That sounds perfect!" Mylene's voice suddenly became much more chipper, and she suddenly began darting with her pencil, sketching out bracers with the specifications as such that Marinette had suggested. A ranged attack for a close range Trait, particularly one as strong as Mylene's would give her a huge advantage, even disregarding her meek personality. If they were done right, a conversion device would help Mylene to push people through walls without ever touching them!

It was an idea Marinette had wanted to suggest for quite a while, but had been saving it for when they finally began to Design their costumes. Such a device would be invaluable for Mylene, she felt. Giving Mylene an edge she so desperately needed for a boost in her confidence.

It wasn't a gesture that went unnoticed by Adrien, who smiled warmly when he saw it. He'd removed the face mask that went with his costume, and thrown it casually onto the top of his shoulder. He approached Nino, who was already at work, with a clear idea of what he wanted. His equipment, his aesthetic, his appearance, and his name. "Got a good idea on what you're going for, Nino?" Adrien asked, making small talk.

"Absolutely dude. I've had this planned since preschool!" Nino grinned, not stopping to look at the costumed student in front of him. "Still, I'm mad jealous that you got your costume already, and it looks wicked too!"

"I got it for agreeing to model in it for everyone here." The blond admitted with a sheepish grin, accompanied with a nervous scratch on the back of his head. Part of him actually felt a bit guilty for it, almost like he'd cheated his way into getting his costume early. "Sorry I didn't send you a text or anything about it. Mr. Damocles wanted me to keep it a secret so it'd be a surprise for everyone."

"It's cool, dude." Nino dismissed with a waft of his hand and a small chuckle. He reached for an eraser, and began to remove some of the lines he'd drawn around the arm base of his costume. "Guess being around that fossil of a father must've rubbed off on you a bit, huh?"

"I guess so..."Adrien nodded, solemnly, remembering back to how little interaction he and his father had shared. He hadn't even really batted an eye when Adrien had told him that he'd passed the end of year examination, claiming to have more important work that needed to be done. Disheartening, of course, but it wasn't anything Adrien wasn't used to. That cold disinterest in his successes that his father seemed to hold. Always being at arm's length... He shook his head, trying to get rid of these depressing thoughts. "S-So, have you decided on your Hero name?"

"You bet, dude!" Nino smirked, holding up his Design sheet for Adrien to fully see. The design had a series of tubes and containers around the person, as well as a dark maroon balaclava. Around the chest area was a flak jacket, designed for carrying large quantities of water bottles and the likes, most likely made up for Nino to store additional liquids on his person. The tanks also served this purpose, in all likelihood. "Hydro!"

"Pretty appropriate." Given Nino's Hydrokinetic powers, Hydro wasn't the most creative name, but it worked for the sort of power that he had. The costume he was creating was a bit unusual though, being bright and red. One would expect a water themed Hero to go with colours like black and blue. Nino wasn't a conventional sort of person though. Even his Trait was a rather unconventional one, being able to control, but not create water.

"Adrien." Suddenly, Ms. Bustier's voice called out the costumed student from back up front. As she spoke, the gentle smile remained, and her wings seemed to stretch just a bit. "Thank you very much for doing the demonstration. I think everyone has a fairly good idea of what they're trying to do now, so you can change back into your regular clothes now if you like."

Nodding, the Dual Trait user Teleported to the front of the room to collect the bag that contained his normal clothes, before he Teleported right out of the classroom once again.

* * *

 

"Siddy, buddy! Hawkmoth over there ain't a patient person, and nor am I!" Fragman tightened his death grip around the Arabian's throat, cutting off the easy flow of air to his struggling lungs. The grin the Powderkeg Trait user wore, which showed all his teeth, would have been terrifying even under the best of circumstances. The fact he sounded energetic and cheerful only added to the fear factor he seemed to exhibit. In his other hand, he giggled as he let a few small sparks bounce from his palms into the air around him.

The workshop/living room was an absolute wreckage zone. The scene of a very brief, and very easily won victory by Wipe-Out and Fragman beating down Siddiq into submission. At first, both of the Villains had been worried about the Arabian's Trait, but once they learned what it was, they had charged straight through, demolishing the table, equipment, and everything else in the way of the underground Designers.

"A Trait that gives the user selective Amnesia... I'll give credit where it's due - I don't think I've quite heard of one like that before." Wipe-Out commented. "I guess I wasn't all that needed, right, sir?"

Hawkmoth glanced at the wall notice that Siddiq stupidly left up on his wall, before looking back at Wipe-Out, the British warriors black hair covering most of his face. His overlong, messy hair, that he desperately needed a meeting with a hairdresser and a set of shears to get rid of, blocked out his Xanthic coloured eyes, and ran down past his mouth. Calm cockiness ran rampant throughout his personality. Something Hawkmoth didn't appreciate.

"No. Suppress his power, before he activates it and forgets the information that we desire. Hurry."

Sighing, Wipe-Out walked over to the pinned and gasping Siddiq, and looked at him. The Arabian looked back, with eyes that seemed to plead for mercy where none was to be given. Wipe-Out simply glared, and pressed his open hand against Siddiq's forehead.

"Is it done?"

"Yeah. This bastard ain't gonna be forgetting anything anytime soon for anything other than dementia." Wipe-Out confirmed, still maintaining his opinion that this was a pointless excursion. The chances were that Siddiq didn't have what they were after, so even coming her would prove fruitless, he was sure.

Evidently, Siddiq had tried to forget something, but it hadn't worked, because he managed to choke out words, "W-What?... My... Trait... Why... Why won't it work?.."

"That'd be courtesy of mine." Wipe-Out said bluntly.

Wipe-Out - Trait - Suppressor - Wipe-Out possesses the ability to completely suppress his targets Trait or superpowers by applying his hands to the target. He only needs to touch a target for a very brief second to totally suppress their powers, and leave them unable to activate their abilities. Upon contact, the victim's powers will be suppressed for up to five minutes, but this time can be extended if Wipe-Out keeps contact with the person he is suppressing for longer than that duration of time. This power is very strong, but it has many limitations, such as not working on Mutant-Type Traits, and only working if skin contact is made. It also leaves him directly in perfect melee range for his opponents.

Against a power like Siddiq's though, it wasn't an issue.

Stepping forward slowly, Hawkmoth kicked aside a few mechanical scraps that scattered the room, not really paying any attention. His silver balaclava and purple suit screamed that he was a dangerous, maniacal sort of Villain. He held an air of sophistication and education about him. He was a smart man, both in attire and in intellect. You didn't even need to engage in a conversation to get this knowledge from him.

He stood behind Fragman's person, where he was able to do the closest to looking Siddiq in the eyes. He registered the fear that his hostage had. But he didn't care. At all. "A short while ago, an individual came here seeking equipment from you. Recently, that equipment has been seen on the Vigilante Chat Noir. Who did you give that technology to?"

Siddiq made no noise, instead, he seemed to croak, something about not knowing. With his windpipe being crushed by Fragman, it was difficult to infer exactly what was being said. With Fragman being the one who was roughhandelling the hostage, their leader wondered why he was even surprised. After all, the teenager was known for his extraordinary violence.

"Fragman, loosen your grip on him." Hawkmoth ordered, whereupon it was obeyed instantly, in spite of any reservations Fragman might otherwise have had. Directing his attention very firmly on Siddiq, locking eyes with him, Hawkmoth spoke, very slowly and deliberately. "Repeat yourself. Quickly."

"I-I-I-" Siddiq suddenly coughed violently, and it was revealed that burn marks in the form of a handprint had scarred all over his neck. Fragman had clearly been so bloodthirsty, he was activating his power in tiny bits to implement burn marks on Siddiq's neck to cause him discomfort. "- Don't know!"

"It's your tech on the cat Vigilante, Siddy boy." Fragman chuckled as he taunted the clearly scared Designer. Ever the sadist, Fragman enjoyed watching this bug squirm right now, but his hands begun to itch again.

A flurry of stutters came from Siddiq, of denials, that he wouldn't arm someone with his technology willingly like that. Total lies, of course, because he would happily do that and use his Trait to forget he'd ever done so, but he was currently willing to say anything to get himself out of this terrible situation he found himself in.

It seemed that Hawkmoth knew this very well, and closed his eyes. "Very well."

"What a worthless Trait though... You sure it's even worth it, sir?" Wipe-Out asked, taking back his hand from Siddiq's temple and turning around. As he finished his inquiry, he knelt down to pick up a piece of machinery, inspecting it and trying to discover its functionality.

"Have you not heard of the old saying?" Hawkmoth asked, before standing opposite the trembling Designer. They looked at one another in the eyes again, neither of them moving at all, aside from slight panicked breaths from the Arabian man.

Suddenly, Hawkmoths arm shot out, grabbing Siddiq's face, and gripping it tightly. Underneath that dark coloured suit, his arms and veins began to slow as he activated his own Trait. In doing so, his fingernails went rigid, and dug underneath Siddiq's skin, causing a large amount of pain and discomfort, but the Villain mastermind didn't halt in the process of using his power.

Suddenly, he let go, and his Trait deactivated, and he stepped away. "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." He turned to Fragman. "Get rid of him."

Once more, a sadistic grin appeared on Fragman's face and he unleashed a huge detonation of nitroglycerine against Siddiq, who never even knew what hit him. The huge amounts of force suddenly applied to his skull, the criminal Designer was dead before he'd even realized that he was about to die.

Fragman just laughed maniacally as his victim's body fell limp onto the ground. "O-ho-ho- _hooooo_ , it's been far too long since I got to fry someone!" His fingers twitched, and the smoke rose from his now bloodied hands as he grinned at the corpse of Siddiq.

"Freakin' sociopath." Wipe-Out muttered, taking a few steps away from the red stain on the wall not far from him, before he looked to his boss from the corner of his eyes. "You want us to take any of his equipment, sir?"

"Gather it." Hawkmoth declared to his minions. "Perhaps something here will be of use to us in the coming weeks."

After all, it certainly wasn't going to be of any use to Siddiq anymore.

* * *

 

Something that Adrien always sought for was the ability to become a better fighter, and if his sparring match with Ree that morning had taught him anything, it was that he still had a very long way to go before he was going to be able to become the Hero he wanted to be. His costume would help. It was a perfectly tuned piece of equipment that was designed to better him and his powers... But at the end of the day, it was like a Trait. An extension of himself, so he had to get better at using it. Otherwise, it was just a worthless piece of fabric and metal that served no purpose.

It was the image of becoming a Hero that filled Adrien with the hope he felt every morning, that kept his days bright, that kept him going. His desire to be a Hero was so great, whenever he thought of himself in five years, as a Hero who was able to fight for what he truly believed in, he was filled with a surge of energy, and a smile always made its way onto his usually reserved and calm face. Decay, the Hero of Paris... That was what motivated Adrien.

While he changed, taking off his combat vest and leggings, and switching into his usual school attire, he looked at the costume he had been given. This was his. This was Decay's. Not Chat Noir's. This was his, what he was going to be seen as when he took down criminals during his Hero career.

Thinking of Chat Noir, he remembered that he had a patrol to go on with Ladybug today, something he was looking forward to quite a lot. Seeing her always brightened the night whenever they were together, her, shining like one of the stars in the night, but being completely unique to the billions of burning balls of gas in the infinite cosmos. Unlike them, she was a perfect being. A diamond in a world made up of coal.

As he thought of her, inevitable thoughts of the Vigilante group, the Traitors, came into his head. Shinuya came into his head. The classmate that went to this very school, and sauntered around like nothing ever happened between him and Adrien. Fu came into his head, the calm leader, who spoke wisely, but Adrien couldn't figure out if trusting him was a smart choice.

He still had the communication device provided to him by the Vigilante Shinuya, or by his Vigilante name, Ripoff. While Adrien couldn't deny the strength that he'd seen from Shinuya, he still was weary of the members of the Traitors. He wanted to believe that they were good people, that they were all like him, wanting to do what was best for Paris, for people around them... But the reasons why he couldn't trust the flooded back into the forefront of his memory.

Ignorance as to who Hawkmoth was a prevalent factor in his scepticism of trust to the rouge group. He'd searched up the mystery Villain when he had got home, and excluding a few results from conspiracy sites, he'd found nothing concrete to confirm the Traitors' claims...

It didn't leave him with a good feeling about the group, no matter how badly he wanted to be wrong. What concerned him most about all of this was Shinuya knowing exactly who he was. No matter his trust or distrust of them, the Traitors held all of the cards when it came to his identity. Anytime that they felt like it, they could reveal the boy's name to the papers, and out him as Chat Noir...

What could be done to free him of this unfavourable situation?...

Short of killing Shinuya?...

Not a lot of other options stood out to Adrien, and he that was something that really freaked him out. Sure, he held an equal amount of dirt on Shinuya, so if the Japanese teenager tried to reveal his identity, Adrien could threaten to do the same, but back and forth bouts of blackmail was no way to deal with this...

He didn't want to kill innocent people. Never. He'd already bloodied his hands once before with these hands... He couldn't do it again. He wouldn't, he refused to.

Shuddering at his dark thoughts, he slipped into his jacket and stepped out of the changing rooms, nearly colliding with some students who happened to be outside the door when he left. One of them was in a Hero costume of their own, but it wasn't something Adrien paid any attention to as he stuffed his hands indie his pockets, bit his lower lip, and made his way back to his classroom.

So many things were going on in his life right now that he wondered if he'd ever get any free time. He wanted to practice his fighting some more, and with any luck, Ree would be available for some more practice matches when he got back to the mansion.

As he walked down the corridor, past some students who were going about their regular walks of life to get from point A to B with minimal fuss, he came across a door to his left. This wasn't his classroom door. Rather, that was on the second floor, while this was on the first. It was a large, metallic door, made up of steel, presumably three times taller than Adrien was, to account for any Traits that made its users grow to a huge size, or those with gigantism.

The sign on the door said something very intriguing to Adrien.

Combat Practice Enrichment Classes.

* * *

 

'Hothead'. That was the Hero Name Kim had chosen, apparently inspired by Alix, who kept calling him that, he'd just decided to roll with it, leaving his tomboy friend in a state of which she couldn't decide if she was flattered, amused, or enraged. It suited his Trait though, since he was the resident Lava Trait user.

Alix had gone with the name 'Speedbreaker'. Fitting, considering she could probably break the local speed limits without even needed a high powered motorized vehicle, or even a rocket ship designed to break the Earth's atmosphere on a supply mission to Luna with her powers.

When Chloe revealed her Hero name as 'Queen', everyone just sighed. Ever the egotist if they ever knew one.

Rose had chosen the name 'Snowflake'. That one earned a laugh from the classroom, since they all knew that was Juleka's affectionate pet name for her.

The rest of the names came and went, with each of them being creative and thematically interesting given the powers each of them held. They all went up, and gave a little demonstration about their chosen name, and then it was time for the next person to go up and do theirs. No presentation lasted for much longer than a couple of minutes.

By the time Marinette's presentation came up, she had still been struggling for name.

"Alright, time for the final presentation... Marinette, if you'd like to come to the front." Ms. Bustier called down the blue haired girl to give her name to the class.

Picking herself up, Marinette made her way to the front of the room, feeling everyone in the room keeping their eyes on her as she made her way down with sweaty hands gripping her whiteboard. She didn't have an issue with going out and talking in front of a large group of people, she wasn't that shy. She just didn't like making a complete idiot out of herself. A Hero name was something that would stick with her for quite a while. Not like Ladybug. She could change that name whenever she desired. To change a Hero name, there was a pretty long and complicated legal process. While they were young, it wasn't that horrible, but a lot of the students here already knew what their Hero names would be, since they'd been planning this for years. Marinette had joined the course on a whim.

Facing the class, she had a visual of the various expressions of her classmates. Alya was looking at her excited and expectantly, eyes sparkling, like she expected Marinette's choice of name to be an absolute golden masterpiece. Mylene was patiently smiling at Marinette, awaiting the name she would be known by. Some, like Kim, didn't seem to be one hundred percent there, sort of zoned out as time had passed along. And then there was Chloe, who was watching with a smug smirk, just waiting for Marinette to screw this up so she could never let her hear the end of it.

Somehow, just that one person who was going to judge her ferociously overshadowed the other fourteen students who wouldn't, and made the shy girl that more nervous.

"Urm... Right..." Marinette stuttered, fumbling with her whiteboard. "My Hero name is... Well, I - "

In that moment, the door handle began to rattle, and the classroom door opened up, revealing a long absent Adrien, now dressed in his regular attire. He'd been gone for the better part of a half hour, far longer than anyone would have expected him to be gone. His entry suddenly shifted all attention from Marinette onto himself, as he attempted to sneakily make his way into the room without disturbing anyone, and failing miserably.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Adrien!" Ms. Mendeleiev snapped at the young Hero, causing him to rigidly bolt upright to attention. "Where on earth have you been?"

"S-Sorry, Ms. Mendeleiev!" Adrien apologized quickly to avoid more of her wrath. "I-I was looking into an Enrichment class on the floor below, and I had to do all the signing up procedures!"

Both the teachers looked at one another, trying to decide if they believed the excuse. While Adrien wasn't the kind of student who would skip classes, and both of them knew this for a fact, they still would have to make sure that this wasn't the case on the very rare possibility that this was exactly what he had done.

"What Enrichment class was this?"

"Combat Practice, ma'am."

"We'll check after classes. For now, return to your seat. You're just in time for the final Hero name to be announced."

Nodding, Adrien Teleported back into his regular seat next to Nino. He did feel a bit depressed that he hadn't made it back in time to hear all of the names that everyone had chosen. He would go around and ask them for their Hero names later on, since he was genuinely curious.

"Okay, Marinette, carry on."

Now all the attention was back on Marinette, who gulped. Now there were fifteen people who were judging her Hero name.

"Um... Right..."

She took a sharp inhale, and begun.

"My Trait... It's Conversion. It lets me create atoms as long as I'm touching an equivalent material... But..." Marinette needed to take in another breath of air. It got easier to speak as she begun to do so. The flow seemed to come a lot smoother. "I can also change atoms at the core into different ones... But... I'm really bad at it. I want to get better at doing it... Just like why I want to be a Hero... I want to be a better person than I am right now... So... My Hero name is based on what my weakness is. To remind me that I need to keep working hard to get better at it."

She held up her whiteboard, letting everyone see her name in Capital letters.

"My Hero name will be 'Alchemist'."

Her reasons admired, she ended up receiving a round of applause from everyone in the room, excluding Chloe of course, started by Adrien of all people. She wound up blushing, not expecting such a kind response. But she was thankful nonetheless, and couldn't stop herself from smiling.

Alchemist. That was what she wanted to be called as a Hero. This was her Hero name. She hadn't been sure about it to start, but now she was. She liked it.

Alchemist it was.


	17. Combat Classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enrichment in the CFD... Is a bit different to your average school.

Enrichment Classes. In the CFD, these are essentially additional classes that someone may choose to take outside their primary course. Just like with a baseline course, these classes are graded, and can be quoted as a part of a personal statement, and even evolve into a qualification of their own right, so lots of students treated them as a second course that they could take. As expected for a school with the facilities and equipment that the CFD had, many options of Enrichment classes existed. From Combat Practice, to Design, to Public Service.

So when Adrien had seen the Combat Practice Enrichment Classroom, he'd immediately signed up. His desire to improve his ability to perform hand-to-hand capabilities had driven him to take the opportunity without hesitation. If his fights with Ree taught him anything, it was that he needed to learn various martial arts from every source he could get them from. He lacked natural flexibility, so he needed a way to be able to keep up with someone like Ree who was able to perform masterful dances while she fought.

Marinette's Hero name had been the final one to be announced, and Adrien had been glad he'd made it back in time for it. The signup process for Combat Practice had been a lot longer than he would have ever imagined, the teachers needing him to sign various forms saying that they weren't responsible if he ended up brutally injured. It raised the question as to just how brutal the training was actually going to be.

What was a surprise however, was the fact that after Marinette's Hero name had been given, their teachers basically told them that that was it for classes that day. Every student had been given a booklet, and within it contained a large selection of external classes, services, Enrichment classes, and the likes. Extra credit classes.

Heroism as an industry looked for the absolute best of the best, meaning that every single student needed to amass a huge variety of skills, and reasons as to why they were the best. Why they were the number one Hero for the job. Without these reasons to hire them, to call upon them whenever there was a crisis, they would be failures as Heroes. They needed to take every single opportunity that they could to improve themselves, to gain power, to extend their powers, and learn to become better with them. As students, it was their responsibility to improve themselves. As educators, it was the teacher's jobs to guide them, to train them.

With this in mind, the rest of the day was going to be dedicated to the students trying to find the best additional classes and extracurricular activities that would suit them, and they would get the most out of. Of course, none of them were compulsory, but extremely recommended.

Chloe of course, arrogant to the very core, opted to do none of them.

"I don't need any of them." She dismissed every suggestion Sabrina made to her blonde friend/master rudely, acting offended at the mere suggestion that she needed any sort of help or improvement when it came to her powers. In a fit of anger, Chloe slapped each booklet out of the Mind Reading girl's hands, causing them to scatter all across the floor and violently told her, "Not a single one of these would even be worth the time it would take to read them!"

"R-Right, of course." Sabrina apologized, and dropped to the floor, picking up each of the leaflets with a small whimper to her voice.

It was something a lot of people in the class couldn't quite comprehend. With the Mind Reading power the orange haired girl had, how was it possible that she was so blind to the venomous personality Chloe possessed? The abusive relationship they shared? How was it that Sabrina was unable to understand how little Chloe truly valued her as a person, never mind how little she considered her to be her genuine friend? But yet, she still followed the blonde girl loyally, despite all the painful setbacks it put her at.

It was cruel. So many of them had tried to convince Sabrina to break away from Chloe, to try and help the poor girl, but it was like she was programmed to blindly obey whatever the cruel girl told her. No one had succeeded yet.

After Chloe had slapped the leaflets and left Sabrina to collect them up again like a servant, she stormed towards the door in a huff.

"You know, being that overconfident and cruel to your friends will probably get you in a lotta trouble someday, 'Queen'."

Alya's off-handed insult towards Chloe caused the girl to stop in her tracks and glare towards her tan skinned classmate, sat upright with a smirk, quite pleased with the reaction Chloe had given her. Using her chosen Hero name against her like a weapon against the egomaniacal Witch was a strategy Alya was more than willing to wield, especially against someone as ruthless as Chloe.

The end result was a locking of sharp dagger scowls between the two of them. Surrounding Alya were her friends, Marinette to her right, and Adrien and Nino on the row below them, whereas Chloe stood alone. The perfect analogy.

Not that the mayor's daughter was going to let that work on her. Pride and self-confidence coursed through her.

"You keep your opinions to yourself!" Chloe snapped right back at Alya harshly, pointing a finger directly at the Broadband Trait user, like she was accusing her of committing sin. "If I want to know what you think, I'll ask you!"

"You won't ever want to know that though, will you? Because you 'Won't need the help.'"

"I don't need any help with my powers!"

"It's weird, actually Chloe." Adrien said, joining the conversation. "I've known you for years, and I still don't have a clue what your Trait even is. I mean, being confidents fine, but a Hero needs to work in teams. How are we supposed to work alongside you if you won't even speak to most of our classmates in a kind manner and won't share your powers with us?"

For a second, Chloe looked like Adrien made a valid point, like she had just a brief moment of doubt. Hearing that from one of her only childhood friends had to hurt, and make her question herself for just a few moments.

"I don't want to share what I can do, simple as that." Chloe explained. When she spoke to Adrien, she was generally more polite, but still had no reserves about mistreating him at times, which he seemed to tolerate for some reason, probably because he was one of the few in the class who actually considered Chloe a friend.

"Why not though?"

Suddenly, the glare Chloe exhibited shifted target, straight to Marinette. The blue haired girl was caught off guard by this, and jumped back slightly in her seat. In a violent and nearly explosive manner of speaking, Chloe spat out the words, "You'll find out when I get the chance to take her on in a real fight."

Marinette's eyes suddenly shot wide open, surprised at the pure level of what looked like downright hatred coming from Chloe. Yes, she was aware that the two of them shared quite possibly the worst relationship out of every single person in their class, but she never imagined it was to this level of outright hate. She didn't hate Chloe to the point of wanting to kill her, but she could tell Chloe hated her that much. "Wh - What did I do?"

"You piss me off." The girl who's Trait remained a mystery to all her classmates declared, before she turned around and stormed right out of the classroom, Sabrina following close behind, desperately grasping onto the leaflets previously scattered around the floor.

That statement had left the room rather silent. It was in this moment that Marinette realized that the entire classroom had been listening to their conversations, because as soon as Chloe left, the room was totally noiseless, and then the groups suddenly went back to chatting, as if they hadn't just been listening in on Chloe's rather loud declaration of hatred towards Marinette.

It came as quite the surprise to Marinette in all honesty. Truth be told, she couldn't think of anything that she'd really done to offend Chloe that much. She remembered that in pre-school, they shared a neutral relationship, neither friends nor enemies, until Marinette's lack of a Trait put her down at the bottom of the social ladder. After her Trait did develop, Chloe's dislike for her seemed to grow, becoming this ugly ball of hate and disgust for her mere existence.

"Well that was... Dramatic." Nino muttered, glancing up at Marinette. "You doin' okay?"

"Yeah... I'm okay."

"I don't get her sometimes." Adrien sighed, leaning back in his seat. "She wasn't like this when we were younger... Well, she was spoiled, sure, but that was a whole new level of bratty. I just don't get why she even wants to be a Hero if that's the way she's going to act." He tapped his finger on the desk, recalling his old memories of his friend, from the days she was sweeter and kinder, and being around her didn't feel like a chore to be endured, but a privilege to be thankful for. "When we were kids, she said she wanted to go to Collège Françoise Dupont, but she wanted to study politics, to become mayor like her dad... Then it turned to wanting to join the Elite course, and then back down to wanting to join the Hero Course."

Alya couldn't help but stifle laughter. "Could you imagine Chloe as a politician?"

"I can actually." Marinette chuckled, the barely contained giggles from her best friend being contagious. The image of Chloe making all the calls on what went down in Paris not helping her keep her composure. Somehow the temperamental girl made a good substitute for the world's politicians. "And that's a scary thought."

At this, Adrien finally stood upright, a small smile on his face, amused by the jokes Alya and Marinette were making. As much as he was enjoying being a part of the current conversation, he wanted to get over to the Combat Practice room to get started on his classes before the clock hit 11:00, which was the standard time for the days Enrichment classes to begin, for this one day of sampling only.

"You going somewhere bro?" The Hydrokinetic boy asked, as Adrien Teleported next to the door to avoid having to squeeze past his best friends seat. A trivial use of Teleportation, but one that no one questioned.

Nodding, the Dual Trait user explained, "Yeah, I wanna get to the Enrichment class I chose before it begins."

"You mentioned you picked one." Alya remembered the explanation he gave their strict teachers before Marinette revealed her Hero name as Alchemist. "Combat Practice, right?"

Adrien responded once again with a firm nod of his head, his blond hair swaying down to cover a bit of his right eye as he did so. "That's right. I want to get better at fighting since I lost my matchup against the Abnormal and Primal group. I thought this might be a good way to improve my skills."

"I'm going to be looking into the Technology class." Explained the dark scarlet haired girl. "I figured it could help with my Broadband Trait if I found some technology that could enhance a Wi-Fi signal." She then nudged her friend with her elbow, jabbing her just underneath her ribcage. "Hey M, which Classes are you thinking of trying?"

Marinette blinked, before going pink. "Uh... I-I haven't actually... Decided yet..."

A Cheshire grin appeared on Alya's face, and she looked back over to the blond model. "Hey, Adrien, why don't you and Marinette try Combat Practice classes together?"

Under a regular circumstance, Marinette would have turned into a blushing mess, trying to find a way to avoid the situation the best she could, since she couldn't stand the prospect of being around her crush on her own for too long. She'd make excuses, find a class that interested her in nothing more than falling asleep, but it would be better than making an idiot out of herself in front of Adrien...

But she too had become concerned about her abilities to fight after her match with the Valour and Elite courses. She had been of no use whatsoever, barely able to attack or defend, and instead, let Markus brutally eradicate anything that got in the way. The truth of the matter was, Combat Practice... Actually sounded like it would be a fairly good thing to involve herself in.

And if she got to spend some time alongside Adrien... All the better.

"I... Actually like the sound of that." She admitted, surprising Alya pleasantly. "I want to be a better fighter too... Maybe I should give it a try."

It was a silent respect that Adrien held when people seeked to improve themselves as fighters and as people, respect he now felt for the blue haired girl he considered to be his friend. He gave her a warm, toothy grin. "Sounds like you and I have similar mind-sets."

* * *

 

Due to being one of the few students who had his Hero costume already made, Adrien was permitted to wear it during the Enrichment session, which he happily accepted. He'd dashed out of the room and Teleported back in, fully dressed in his combat themed dark costume, face mask and all included, covering up a lot of his face. Crosscut, whom was leading the Enrichment class, complimented the costume, saying that it looked cool. Everyone else who lacked one was in their gym clothes, Marinette included.

Excluding Adrien and Marinette, the blue haired girl counted nine there. Markus being one of them surprised her, since there didn't seem to be a thing that he would need practice in. Maybe he just enjoyed breaking things. Brynne was another student there, and she, along with Marinette, kept her distance from the explosive Trait user. Both were able to engage in conversation, and bonded over their mutual lack of ability to do a damn thing on the battlefield. It was about as depressing at it sounded for both of them.

Adrien recognised the Abnormal Rex, but he was sat done of the peers, not really in line with the rest of the students there. His eyes were closed tightly, almost like he was asleep, hiding the cog-shaped Irises that made him unique among his peers. He wondered why that was, why he wasn't up alongside them, but he didn't ask. In truth, he hoped that Combat Practice would translate to sparring matches. He looked forward to a rematch with the Technopath.

Alongside him, was the Primal Fleisch. Upon seeing him again, Adrien shook his hand, complimenting him on his victory over him, since he'd never gotten to officially say it. The two were able to express a mutual respect for one another's abilities on the battlefield, Fleisch especially impressed by the tenacity Adrien had displayed. He didn't reveal Marinette's crush on Adrien to him either, respecting the blue haired Human girl's privacy.

Finally, there were two other students. Specifically, they were a pair of twins that took on draconic like appearances, each sporting sharpened ears, akin to elven creatures from fantasy novels, a long, scaly tail, and large, dragon-like wings, both varying in colour. Both were girls of the age of fourteen, being accepted into the CFD due to certain actions they had taken outside of school that they didn't want to divulge into. Well, the one talking didn't want to explain why they were accepted a year early. One of the two of them was far more quiet and reserved, whereas another one was far more outgoing and talkative.

The social one went by the name Dae Burndhart. She was a very energetic individual, who seemed to be like Adrien in a sense, always itching to get into a fight. She had boundless energy that she wanted to convey in the form of combat. Compared to her sister, her orange, bright wings, along with her tail, were rather bulky, and her build more muscular. Her hair was a bright shade of carmine red, which was cut off just before it hit her shoulders. She also seemed to have a few marks of battle, or 'Badges of courage' as she called them, including a short scar that went underneath her right eye, which were a darker shade of crimson red.

Dae introduced her quiet sister as Syltris Oshanburu, whom politely waved at the group, despite being shy. Contradictory to the claim that they were siblings, they looked like polar opposites. Where Dae looked rugged and like she was expecting an ambush as all times, Syltris looked far more presentable, and to the eye, beautiful. She was shorter than Dae, a stature that she claimed helped her Trait. Long, wavy locks of chocolate brown hair flowed behind her, neatly tied up in a pigtail at the back, and two long braids at either side that reached down to her knees, a dyed aqua blue streak in the right one. Her eyes were also an enchanting deep blue variant. For being a fourteen year old, she could easily be mistaken for being a sixteen year old model, with the charm and beauty to rival Adrien.

The final person there was an Elite course student Marinette had seen during the matches, but had never really acknowledged. The boy crudely introduced himself as Hoshi Chibaku, making his dislike for interacting with people he considered to be weaker than him abundantly clear. At this point, Adrien and Marinette had to wonder as they sweatdropped, was every Elite Course student some sort of violent maniac who hated everyone around them, because there sure seemed to be a lot of students like that. How quirky were they?!

"They sorta make Chloe seem relaxed, huh?" Adrien joked.

Marinette had to laugh, not just at the joke, but at how accurate it was. It was a reminder of the sorts of people that inhabited the CFD. The variety that filled this world that they inhabited, how different, and how similar, everyone was, regardless of the powers that they had. Diversity was the spice of life in this world, whether people liked it or not.

"Alright guys, let's fall in!" Crosscut cheerfully ordered everyone, apparently blissfully unaware of the kinds of people he was working with. The sorts in here were the serious kind, already in position, itching to start training. Crosscut meanwhile, seemed more like a football coach for little league.

The response that he was given was a series of cold glares, all asking with their eyes for him to get on with the formalities so they could start to battling. It seemed that the Enrichment teacher understood the looks he was being given and, after running his hand through his Mohawk, decided to skip the pep talk and get right into it.

"Alright, you bores. You're all here for one reason - You want to become stronger fighters. Every single person here has a reason for wanting to become a member of the peacekeeping forces in society, and you're all here because you feel your progress isn't good enough. The aim of this taster session is to show you the kinds of things you can expect to learn from me."

"When do we get to fight?" Hoshi bluntly asked. "If I'm not going to get any practice, then I'm leaving."

Dae seemed to let loose a few flames from her body, indicating that she too was getting ready to unleash hell itself once it presented itself. "I wanna fight too! Skip the pretence stuff and lemme hit things!"

"Perhaps calm down, Dae." Syltris recommended, trying to calm her sister down from letting anymore flames into the surrounding woodwork. "Maybe if you let Mr. Crosscut explain, we can get to the - "

"Screw that bullshit!" Markus suddenly said, letting an explosion loose in his palms. "If we ain't gonna get to fighting soon, I'm gonna break the freakin' wall down!"

"Lemme at 'em!" Dae yelled, attempting to charge at Crosscut, apparently having decided that he was a target.

Her sister’s bulky blue tail extended slightly and tripped up the fire themed dragon girl, and pulled her back next to Syltris, who was simply calmly stood with her arms crossed, and her wings tucked in. "Not yet."

While he was a bit upset he never got to do that motivational talk, Crosscut had to admire the sheer levels of enthusiasm that the students who had chosen his class had to display. Confidence was good, and an eagerness, and a love for fighting were just as good. He ignored to rudeness of the two students and stood upright. "If you insist. But first, let me explain something to you. While this is a Combat Practice Enrichment Group, you will not be fighting one another."

This revelation caused a bit of a stir from the participants, who were now growing a bit concerned about their role in his class. They weren't going to be fighting one another? Logically that would mean that some specialists should be here, showing up to help practice them practice their skills... But the only person here was Rex, and a large hunk of garbage that surrounded him.

"Uh..." Fleisch spoke up, raising his hand. "If we're not gonna be fighting each other, then what are we gonna be fighting?"

Crosscut grinned, then turned his back on his students, and called over to the Abnormal. "Hey, Rex, set it up now!"

The pale skinned Abnormal finally opened his eyes and stood upright. Surrounding him were all sorts of electronics, that began to dance and contort as soon as the red cogs Rex had begun to turn. Metal wiring and casing began to join together, circuitry beginning to intertwine with other devices, forming piles upon piles of almost Humanoid appearing creatures. The key difference was that they towered over the students there by over three times their height, and spouted advanced weaponry and defences, all courtesy of Rex's Abnormality and genius intellect. So far, three of them had been crafted, and more were still on the way.

Each member of the class took a step back in the face of these deadly apparitions, electrically charged robotic moving like a puppet, controlled by Rex. Some members charged up their Traits. Adrien's Destruction Trait ran up his arms, starting with his fingers and eventually reaching his shoulders. Hoshi began to glow, his eyes and the inside of his mouth being replaced with a light blue hue that expelled light from them. Dae prepared a fireball between her palms, and Fleisch tore off some of the meat from his bones. Marinette and Syltris both gaping in awe, while Markus just grinned.

"Because we can't fight one another and use our Traits at the same time for risk of hurting one another, Rex has been kind enough to volunteer his services in creating these punching bags." Crosscut grinned, holding up his palm towards the metallic behemoths. "Your first task with me is simple - Take down a single one of these creations."

"Take down one of those things?!" Marinette questioned loudly. They were three times the size of everyone here, and they hadn't even been taught anything! What sort of practice even was this without any sort of teaching?! "Are you insane?!"

To respond to the accusation, from the open palm, a bolt of sharp, white energy erupted from Crosscut, shooting right at the torso of one of the robots. It tore through the steel exterior, and ripped out the components from the inside without any sort of difficulty. Incredible power, that no one had come to expect from a teacher as carefree as Crosscut, but there it was. Devastating power, and calm execution. Crosscut chuckled. "Nope."

Crosscut - Trait - Air Cutter - Several pipe-like networks run throughout Crosscut's body. When he utilizes these networks, he is able to send huge levels of solid air pressure straight through his body, and expel them in any location, usually his hands, that he desires. This Trait can be used continuously to achieve flight. However, if he received a rebound, he will build up pressure within his own network, causing it to explode due to the build-up. Overuse of his power will cause him to run out of breath, and can cause stalling in the network.

The receiving robot fell down under the very weight of its own inability to support itself, thanks to the strike from Crosscut's Trait, and collapsed in a pile on the ground. Utilizing his tremendously powerful ability, he shot himself over to the side, leaving absolutely nothing between his students and the lumbering robots marching towards them. "They're not indestructible. But they will provide you with a challenge - That's what you're here for, right?"

"Bitchin'!" Markus grinned. He threw his arms to the ground beneath him, and caused two huge explosions in the palms of his hands, allowing the momentum to send him flying into the air, towards his chosen robotic target. Following this, he began to throw threats and profanities at the non-sentient titanic puppets, as if they would respond to him. "You're freakin' scrap metal!"

In launching his assault however, he failed to realize that one of the massive, lumbering arms was lunging for him until it was barely a couple of inches from him. Quickly reacting, Markus twisted his body, and his hands skidded along the metal framework. He caused a huge explosion, knocking the metal into the robot, and propelling him away from it, and getting some distance from it. His surprise that the automation was actually attacking back was evident, but his superior reflexes had saved him from taking heavy damage.

Using the momentum from his explosions to dive up high, Markus quickly rotated his body until he was now falling down head first, his hands in front of him, creating high pressure explosives to push his body and set his trajectory. Falling back down with speed, he suddenly crashed straight through the torso of the machine, ripping out chunks of metal with his explosive powers. His hands were smouldering, and he tossed aside a particularly long cable that he had gripped onto and ripped out of the robots body. "Easy!"

As Markus finished up, the remainder of the students began to move out to attack the encroaching army of mechanical behemoths. Each one of them split off on their own, calling a target, and aiming to take it down.

"Get the hell out of my way!" Hoshi loudly shouted at his target, crouching down and then leaping up as high as the roof. In doing so, his entire body was glowing a blinding light. His irises were no longer visible, blocked out by this blinding light.

As soon as he got close to his target, he threw out a huge right armed reverse-punch. The shockwaves and the impact of the attack echoed throughout the room, and the sheer force of that attack blasted the robot away in a single punch, reducing it to nothing but sheet metal, scrap, and electronic wiring. Hoshi landed on top of the remains of his defeated target, triumphant. "Learn your place!"

Hoshi Chibaku – Trait – Star Energy – Hoshi's body is made up of the same components that make up a star. Within his body, there is a constant nuclear fusion taking place, which is contained by his skin. When he chooses to tap into this power, his muscles absorb the incredible amount of energy, and transfer it into pure strength. This translates to giving him immense strength, speed, reflexes, easily enough for him to destroy a city block in a single attack. When he uses this Trait, his skin, eyes, nostrils, and mouth emit bright white-light, much like a natural star. His Trait has very few negative effects to it. However, if he uses his Trait far too much, he runs to risk of tearing his muscles.

Fleisch was up next, converting his arms into the gooey substance that his Primality allowed him to turn them into, and launched them towards his targets right leg. At the same time, Fleisch used the incredible physical prowess that Primals naturally had, and threw a huge sweeping kick on the left collection of metal that made up a leg of the large robot, knocking the thing off its feet completely. Moving rapidly, he then leaped out of the way as his target fell down above him, and began to encase it within his flesh. He applied a huge amount of pressure, crushing the robot underneath it and wrapping it up in a meaty grave.

Adrien was easily capable to eradicating the target that he chose. It didn't even rally take him much effort. He simply Teleported atop the robot, and activated his Destruction Trait, and eradicated the atoms that made up the monster. From his attack, he ended up riding down the centre of the behemoth as he split it in half.

He stood atop his destroyed foe without even having broken a sweat. With the addition of his costume, he really did look like a Hero. The teenager looked back at the still ongoing battles.  _'How's Marinette doing?'_

Marinette wasn't able to see the methods everyone else took out their called targets. She saw a few beams of fire, and water that was capable of slicing the steel apart from the robots, but she couldn't see who had fired them, or what the end result wound up being. She had been the last one to call her target, so she had to take on the final one that Rex conjured up.

This particular one looked almost demonic in its appearance, Rex having taken some ques from gothic architecture most likely. Along the arms of this behemoth, Marinette saw a row of spikes that jutted out a good couple of inches from the rest of the contraption. Its face, for want of a better word, seemed to include red eyes and what could only appear to be jagged teeth around the area where a mouth should have been. It also seemed bigger – It wasn't, but to Marinette, this thing appeared to be twice the size of the opponents that her classmates were dealing with.

Quickly formulating a plan of attack, Marinette slammed her now glowing hands into the floor, and unleashed a barrage of atoms in the shape of a fist towards the lumbering mechanism. The floor was made out of wood, but typically wood contained of Carbon and Magnesium. She selected Carbon, knowing it would hold the largest number of atoms within the substance. Her creation charged straight for its target, intending to rip it apart from the very core of its being.

Upon making contact, the robotic creation was pushed back, and dented in its chest. The fist buried itself, and kept pushing and pushing.

But it never knocked out the robot like everyone around her had managed to do theirs. Instead, this creation managed to use one of its arms and sluggishly smacked aside the Carbon fist Marinette had fired.

She froze. What the hell had just happened? She was certain that it would have worked. It worked in combat against –

Those were people that this worked against, not a robot. Not something that couldn't experience pain. Marinette watched the Carbon fist she made shatter as she remembered the most basic rule of atomic composition.

A pure substance was nearly always weaker than an alloy. That was why steel was always a smarter choice to take into a fight than iron was, but this didn't always apply, and not with Carbon. Soft Carbon made lead and Graphite. Pressurized Carbon made diamonds. She could, theoretically, create diamonds with her power if she knew how the conversation aspect of her power worked… But she had no idea how to use it! She was bad at it! Terrible even! She'd managed to set a tree on fire because of it before!

The Abnormal controlled robot began to slowly stampede closer towards. Pure Carbon wasn't going to be enough. Magnesium wasn't going to do a damn thing against this thing, and – What else did wood contain? Calcium, Sulphur, Hydrogen, Oxygen? Whatever it held – nothing else in wood was going to help her. To make matters worse, the walls were way too far away for her to get in close enough before her target trampled her.

 _'Gotta go with the Conversion aspect, or I'm definitely screwed!_ ' Marinette thought to herself. She powered up her Trait again, and began to duplicate Carbon.

She had duplicated diamonds before, many times. Her mother had the ability to turn herself into inorganic diamond, so she was never hurting for a source of the stuff. Additionally, she had some of it installed in her yo-yo weapon as Ladybug, and had used her 'Diamond Defence' technique to defend her and Chat Noir in the battle against Sunstreak. She understood what a diamond was. Just highly pressurised Carbon.

Her Trait basically made her an atom master, in theory of what it could do… But she'd always struggled when it came to altering and moving the atoms of an object to turn it into something else. It was an insanely difficult thing to get used to being able to do, felt Marinette, and she'd never gotten the gist of it.

How she wanted to learn, though. If she could only add such a veritably useful skill to her roster, she could become near unstoppable with her powers. If she could one day master it, she'd have an infinite access to all the elements of the human body, and use it to create basically anything that she could ever want or need.

"A diamond is just pressurized Carbon." She told herself quietly, duplicating at a high rate. "Push the atoms together. Create more in less space…" To get the heat needed to form diamonds, she had to cause every atom to vibrate within the space she was duplicating, and pressurize it all in such a shot amount of time. Naturally, this would take between billions of years, and she was doing it over the course of a few seconds!

Hearing another thud come from the targets direction, Marinette's eyes shot wide open, and she fired.

"Raaaargh!" From her hands, came a sharp, sleek, diamond blade, its width as thick as an arm was, angled at a solid fifty degrees that lunged straight towards the robot. She'd done it!

It never made it further than two meters. As soon as it reached the end of its ropes, Marinette's Trait simply refused to duplicate the atoms anymore.

"What?..." That made no sense! Her Trait allowed her to duplicate atoms, and to change them! Pressurizing one should have been a challenge, but one it was done, then her Trait should be letting her duplicate it! What the hell was going on?! She'd created diamonds, so why wasn't her power letting her duplicate the substance she'd made?!

Was she just… Not good enough to do so? Was it something that she'd never be able to do with her Trait for as long as she lived? Something that she just wouldn't be able to accomplish because of a lack of raw talent?

Did she just not have the capacity to learn how to use her Trait to its fullest?

A mechanical whirring sound suddenly appeared overhead, and Marinette's attention suddenly shifted back to the mechanical behemoth she was supposed to be fighting! But without the use of the diamonds she had created, what could she do other than –

"Hold it, Rex." Crosscut's voice suddenly filled the room, signalling for the automated contraption to cease its movements.

The orders received, the Abnormal stopped his final puppet from attacking, bringing it back to a neutral standing position. It was the only one that was not yet destroyed, and not that she knew it, but Marinette had lost her chance to do so.

"Marinette, right?" Crosscut asked, having hovered his way over to Marinette's location, where she was kneeling next to the semi-transparent substance she had created. The Air Cutter Trait user inspected the rocky diamonds, thinking to himself that he hadn't seen this sort of thing from the blue haired girls Trait before. "I thought your Trait let you duplicate atoms."

Sighing in disappointment and what she would go as far as to call shame, Marinette explained, "It does… But I can change atoms too… I can pressurize them as well… Atoms are just something I can control… But…"

"Not too well, by the looks of things." Her teacher said, finishing her sentence for her as lightly kicking the diamond with his foot. "It looks like your Trait still requires some practice. Or, a lot of practice."

"That's why I came here today… To practice my Trait." A failure of an attempt at improving her superpower laid right in front of Marinette. She had managed to turn the carbon in the woods into diamonds, but if she couldn't duplicate it further than that, then what the hell was even the point of it? It was a step forward, yes, but now it just led to a huge problem in on itself.

That failure marked the end of the taster sessions combat practice, and Crosscut then went over to explain how in the Enrichment Sessions, he would be going over various methods of improving their combat abilities, hand to hand combat, Traitless combat, reaction time and physical fitness. He would help them develop their own fighting styles, and teach them all manner of fighting related things. While a lot of the students didn't get nearly as much combat practice as they would have liked, this was the manner of an Enrichment Class taster session. It was just a small sample, to allow for more time for them to investigate other Enrichment classes that they may like to also take.

Marinette signed up for the classes, hoping that perhaps, she'd get to learn a few more things about her powers. She also took one in Design, for no other reason than she still had the passion for it.

Although, none of that mattered too much in the grand scheme of things, she considered. Without full use of her powers, becoming a Hero was going to become a lot more of a difficult task… She'd try though. She'd persevere. And she'd keep trying, and she'd learn.

* * *

 

"Word of advice."

Hoshi stood in front of Marinette as they begun to filter out of the room, all to leave to try new sessions or go home. The Star Energy Trait user has stopped just in front of Marinette, the boy's spiky, white hair covering just the top of his light blue eyes.

From what she had seen of him, Marinette knew that he had an insanely strong superpower. His power gave him the literal strength of the stars, making him someone who she would want to avoid a fight with at whatever costs she could afford. If that weren't enough, his tall stature, muscular arms, and cold disposition all blended together to create an individual who Marinette felt that angering would result in a one-way trip to her being thrown halfway across the continent.

She gulped, but looked him straight in the face. "Yes?"

"You're the girl with the atom powers, right?"

"Yes… My name's Marinette."

"I don't give two shits what your name is." Hoshi bluntly stated, his arms folded, seeming to scan over her, like he was assessing the girl based on what he could see. Evidently, he was not impressed. "A Trait like yours you can't even fully control. What a waste."

"What – How – "

"Yes, yes, how dare I." He mocked, not breaking the ruthless voice he was using. He spoke condescendingly, and rather quietly, but with a clear sense that he wouldn't tolerate being interrupted. "Girl like you with a Trait as powerful as atom duplication and rearrangement should have eradicated that robot. And you somehow screwed it up. How is beyond me. Absolutely beyond me. So let me give you some advice."

With him leaning in, the blue haired girl saw the light powder blue irises Hoshi had disappear, his eyes, sclera, pupil and all, fade into nothing but a slightly glowing light blue. The action was intentional, as the rest of his skin wasn't glowing at all. Rather, he was focusing the power of his Star-like physiology into his eyes, to intimidate and remind her of the sort of power he had.

"Learn your place on the food chain. It'll make it a lot easier to accept when you find yourself at the bottom."

"Who… Who do you think you even are?!" Marinette shot at Hoshi, who now leaned back from her, not looking in the least bit guilty, and even a little pleased with himself. What was the deal with this guy? What was his problem with her?! No, she wasn't the best fighter around, but she was trying her very best, damn it! Where did he get off on shooting her down like that?!

It wasn't as if she didn't know how bad a warrior she was. She knew, and she felt ashamed that she wasn't able to do better, like Adrien, like Markus, like anyone else in the room was able to do. She knew! She wanted to get better, so why? What reason did Hoshi even have for speaking to her like this?

"Who do I think I am?" Hoshi grinned, before turning around. "I think… I'm going to be someone who is going to bring a huge change to this planet. Not only this planet, but to the Luna Kingdom as well."

* * *

 

That day, Marinette found herself in her room, with a pile of diamonds to her side. Hours she had spent trying to turn diamonds that she had copied from her mother's Trait into coal, to practice conversion. Hours and hours of trying, of painful rejection, of awful tendon pains flaring out at her for overworking herself.

Many strategies were tried. She tried everything she could think of from an atomic standpoint. She couldn't figure out how to convert the item to its carbon based form without duplicating the atoms it held into a chunk of pure carbon.

And every time she tried, she would just duplicate more diamonds, cluttering her room.

Nothing worked.

But she would keep trying.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact - Hoshi was one of the first characters I ever came up with when the concept of Traits and a Hero school. His original name was Bakuhou, but at that point, he basically became My Hero Academia's Bakugou, so I changed his name and made him coldly more threatening. His name literally translates to "Star." He also went to school in Japan with Shinuya.
> 
> We'll be seeing more of him, for certain ^_^


	18. Defending A Precious Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time has passed, and Marinette can't get the hang of her Powers.... And Adrien learns something he never, ever, was supposed to learn...

Three weeks down the line, and Marinette had been practicing her Conversion Traits ability to alter the physical properties of atomic structure, for hours upon hours at a time. Everyday had been the same for her for the last twenty-one days. She would go to her school, she would learn, study, go to Enrichment classes the days they were on, and then she would come home, and use the chunk of diamond that she had copied form her mother's diamond form to try to change it into coal. She would try as hard as she could, for hours and hours on end, before she couldn't try anymore. Each night often saw her room cluttered with a thousand tiny, or large, diamonds from the failed attempts.

But try as she might, she couldn't figure out how her ability to change the atoms directly worked. All that ever happened was that she would just duplicate them, even when that hadn't been the thing she had wanted to do. It ceased making sense to the blue haired girl, who just growled in frustration whenever it happened.

"Rrrrgh…." She groaned, and tugged at her hair in disgruntlement. How was she this bad with her own powers?...

Every few nights, she would go and meet up with Chat Noir, and the two of them would go over various plans and discuss what they felt they needed to do throughout the week. Patrolling was a dangerous task for them, since any patrolling Heroes would attack them on sight. Even meeting up proved to be a dangerous thing that they did, since anyone who saw them now knew exactly who they were.

Sometimes they would find something petty, like a mugging or a shoplifter that they would traditionally easily defeat, and then leave them in an area the Heroes and police would be unable to miss them at. As it turned out, the Heroes tended to take out the most dangerous of criminals themselves which was to be expected. It was their self-appointed jobs, after all, the role that they had chosen to lead throughout their lives. That left only the weaker criminals, with the weaker Traits and abilities, committing the smaller crimes that a lot of Heroes would overlook in favor of bigger, potentially disastrous events.

Perhaps then, the fact that Ladybug and Chat Noir were actually starting to receive some support on the Parisian streets wasn't unexpected then. As they saved more people, and took out more and lower key criminals that the official Heroes either simply didn't notice, couldn't be there, or had to ignore, some people, although they would never, _ever_ say it out loud, become more and more willing to simply just ignore a sighting of the two Vigilantes. Support of Vigilantism was almost never accepted. But if you simply ignored it, or forgot to report it…

It was the closest their secret supporters would be able to do.

Mairnette sighed once again. It had been two hours since she had gotten home, and not a single thing had changed in regards to her Conversion Trait. She still wasn't able to utilize her powers to their absolute maximum. She just… Couldn't do it.

With a tired eye, she looked around her desk, noticing all the hundreds of thousands of tiny diamonds that cluttered her desk, and dropped onto the floor all around it. Luckily, she had learned her lesson the first time, and since then, in order to avoid searching for the ones that scattered throughout the entire room for the next six hours, Marinette had created a capture fabric that caught the diamonds as they fell. When they hit the floor, they handed on this, and all rolled into the center, making them far easier to collect up at once.

She decided that she was finished for the day, clicking all her fingers at once as she stretched. Opening one eye to glance at her desk, she saw her digital clock informing her that it was 17:00. Looking at the piles of diamonds in her captured net, and on her desk, she decided that they needed to be properly disposed of, before it got too dark to do so today. Knocking the ones on her desk into her growing mountain of precious rocks on the floor, she allowed them to be captured and added to the collection in the middle. She then tied them all up, and dragged the makeshift bag outside.

* * *

A diamond is an immensely valuable thing. Such a rare material, formed at such specifically perfect conditions for billions and billions of years, the current world saw diamonds reaching prices of over €3000 per carat. An entire economy had been placed on them, due to their insane levels of privilege and luxury to those who could afford them.

They were precious, valuable minerals.

But in the world of Traits, these things were never as secure as they seemed. Not even the evolution of their world, billions and billions of years of heating, cooling, rotation, and evolution, would mean that these precious rocks would keep their value anymore.

Marinette was aware that with her ability to create atoms, she had the very real power to absolutely crash the value of diamonds. All she had to do was duplicate the diamond skin that her mother was able to create, and she would crush the rarity and value of the precious rocks, making them about as valuable as the ground of minerals that filled up a sandbag.

And indeed, it wasn't an uncommon side effect of Traits either. There were a million Traits on the planet that utilized minerals and other various materials that would otherwise be considered precious, and made them into something painstakingly common. Crystals that were used as shields, now could no longer be charged for up to as a souvenir when someone could just create one out of the palms of their hands and charge €5 down the street. No one could do a trade on metals when one country had someone who had the create metals.

Indeed, value for precious objects went down the more Traits existed, which lead to a huge crash in the economy. This was one of the main factors of the Great Depression that kicked in partway through the Great Trait War, and even went straight through it. Powers, for all their value, and how they defined the way life was, for Humans, Primals, and Abnormals, had the capacity to send their world into utter turmoil.

That was why Marinette was making her way to dispose of these rocks she found herself in possession of.

Across the globe, facilities that were dedicated to the incorporation of materials that were created due to the effects of Traits. Appropriately known as Disposal Dumps, the law legally required anyone who had created a material of value to dispose of them at these locations, in order to protect the global economy. They even had crews who would gather any sort of residue that Heroes left behind from their battles, to make sure that no one stole any precious rocks and used them to make a fortune.

These facilities were equipped with high tech scanners, to confirm that the materials being processed were indeed made because of a superpower. Traits often gave off a very specific residual energy within any objects that were created because of them, and as a result, they could be segregated form naturally occurring metals. This helped these facilities in not being taken advantage of by embittered individuals, and also aided them in sending the precious metals and materials back to keep the economy on the right track.

Whenever materials were taken, they were assessed based on value, the demand for them, and how much of a surplus the world was currently working with. Depending on these factors, the materials could either be destroyed, stored, or added to the surplus to keep stocks high in them. If demand was low, but surplus was low, the materials could be used to create objects, such as stairs, banisters, tables, and all manner of things that may not be possible to help demand increase.

Essentially, they were the ultimate recycling plants.

It was a place that Marinette was fairly used to visiting regularly, due to her Trait's nature. Constantly having to bring back materials that she wasn't using or were at risk of shattering the globally market, she obeyed the laws put in place willingly and happily, dragging the bag of diamonds along in an old cat that she had purchased specifically to aid in such matters.

The blue haired girl sighed, occasionally looking back to the tied up beige coloured back in her pulling cart, filled to the brim with diamonds. Not one had been turned into a lump of coal, like she had wanted them to. Her power was simply too advanced for her to handle yet. She had to learn, and learn, and learn…

Classes had been going on throughout the week, she had been learning a huge amount from everything that she'd been doing. From combat practice classes and Enrichment lessons, and combined with her Vigilantism? She was becoming more and more combat capable with every day, and her powers were coming in useful when she was able to use them as she was comfortable with. Of course, combat wasn't the thing that she prided herself on, unlike someone like Kim or Adrien. But the better she got at it, the better she felt about herself.

She had kept her constant training on her Conversion Trait a secret though. She wanted to figure it out on her own, to get better at her ability to independently learn more about her own Trait.

Enwrapped in her thoughts, she found herself at the Disposal Dumps within a very short amount of time. At around this time, the streets were still active, many people walking to and from places, and the Disposal Dump was still open, although it was nearing the closing times. The dumping ground looked akin to that of a production factory combined with a junkyard, as the building was tall and large, pumping a ginormous cloud of white steam into the sky, a result of their water based cooling equipment. The building itself was fairly grey, with a few dulled out windows. Surrounding the building and its premises, was a high, metallic wall, designed to keep people from seeing the goods that the junkyard held, but also to keep them out to boot. Barbed wire acted as a deterrent to anyone who wanted to climb over the construct. Of course, attempts were still made.

Walking into the front door, Marinette was greeted by the receptionist, whom she actually knew fairly well, since she showed up here like clockwork, at least one time a month. The receptionist was a mid-twenties woman who had naturally red skin. She was led to the processing plant, where all of her diamonds were processed, by some incredibly bewildered plant workers.

"Where in the heck did all of this stuff even come from?!" One of the workers asked, picking up a diamond and inspecting it with shimmering eyes. This was a new worker, one Marinette hadn't met before. A few of his co-workers were to the side, chuckling at their new workmates surprise towards the blue girl's delivery.

"My Trait." Marinette responded, helpfully informing the new worker of her ability. "I duplicate atoms and put them into any form that I like."

Once everything was scanned and confirmed, the diamonds were returned to Marinette, for her to place in the growing piles of materials that cluttered the junkyard. She often took an interest in what surrounded her whenever she stepped out into this place, finding a great manner of hints as to what different minerals and things people were capable of creating with their abilities.

Crystals and emeralds were common ones, and presumably were acquired by members of the Disposal force and police bringing them here after a Hero used them in combat against Villains, or in use from Villains against Heroes. Either way, here they were, tossed aside like a common aluminium can on the street, preparing to be either recycled or obliterated into nothingness.

Other such creations included a large quantity of stainless steel, which would almost certainly wind up being recycled. Ruby and sapphire, all strewn across the place. Gold and a huge number of incredible objects, valuables, and another such sort. While it looked like a pirates treasure cove that someone could live comfortably on for centuries, it was, in reality, a huge risk to the society they lived in for this stuff to exist like this. Until the economy changed, or a shift in society required it, these facilities would be around for a long time.

As Marinette made her way to find a clearing where she could dump these precious rocks, she saw a few other people wondering around the place, some in varying clothing. Some of them in some of the rare schools in the country that had a uniform. Some of them adults who had to drop some things off at the same time. All of them were Creation Type Trait users, who all how a power that could create something from matter, or even create that matter from nothing.

Ironically, the ones who could create things like this were some of the most trusted people in the world. They could create. They had no need to steal such things from other people. The people who were the ones who ran the risk of ruining the entirety of society, were the ones you could trust with your wallet and credit card details – They simply had no need to take them.

Many of them were making their way out of the zone, with only a few of them still dropping off things that they needed to be rid of. Marinette found a spot near a pile of rare quartz crystal, so she made her way over there, and dumped the tens of thousands of diamonds by them. She had to have just dumped what would be worth well over seven million Euros in just that one bag. Funny how the world worked, wasn't it, she thought to herself. Some people would kill to get hold of something like that, and here she was throwing it out like garbage. Still, the law was the law for the Creative Type Trait Users.

She began to turn to leave, but suddenly, she heard what sounded like a scream, from the other side of the wall. High pitched, like a young child, and suddenly, footsteps, and next, panicked screams. Something was happening, right outside.

"What the hell?..." Marinette muttered to herself.

In that exact moment, a glow of green shimmered over the wall, heat seeming to radiate from it. It seemed to go over the entire dumps courtyard, causing the air above it to become humid and warm. Many were prompted to run away out of a lack of understanding and concern for their well-being. Those who remained saw the wall closest to Marinette begin to melt down, through the use of a heating Trait. The ones who hadn't run away now began to.

Excluding Marinette.

Unlike the civilians, Marinette ducked behind one of the many piles of valuable materials, and quickly rummaged through her backpack. She knew what was happening. It wasn't like these were uncommon occurrences.

The steel wall now weakened enough for the thug to move it with their bodyweight, the metal was quickly ripped apart, and from it, came a group of three people. All of them wore balaclavas, hiding their appearances from view, and none of them wearing anything obvious that would give away their anatomy or boost their powers. Each of them was wearing the black balaclava, a grey trench coat, and were carrying a duffel bag each.

"Make this quick, boys!" The one who stepped through the wall first, the one with the melting powers, declared, already dashing into the compound to grab as many valuable things as he could. "Before the Heroes show up, grab the loot and get ready to go!"

Villains. Thugs. People who were desperate, or stupid. Attempting to attack such a facility in order to steal the minerals inside it to make some very quick, very easy, and very valuable cash. These concepts have been brought into play the very second Disposal Dumps came into being, hundreds of attacks happening every month worldwide. In a society of Heroes, it wasn't considered to be a huge deal, since aforementioned Heroes could take care of it.

But the Heroes weren't here yet.

Yet Marinette – Ladybug – She was here.

"Am I safe?..." She wondered aloud, bringing out the Ladybug costume. Quickly, she applied the mask as fast as she could, and slipped into her Vigilante costume as quickly as possible. Normally, she would shy away from such an obvious attack on a civilian area. The Heroes were sure to come by and deal with it themselves, and her going there would simply be a huge risk to them uncovering who she was.

But she was frustrated today. Her lack of progress with developing her powers the way that she had wanted them to develop had left her irritated, and actually wanting to get into a fight. Plus, these guys weren't going to be much trouble.

After all, surrounded by these materials? She had the field advantage so strongly it nearly felt unfair. Not to mention her yo-yo.

Another one of the thugs ran over near her location, grabbing fistfuls of amethysts and rubies, and shoving them into their large bag. Six, seven, eight hands full later, he moved to another pile, this time, one made of gold and crustal. Another seven, nine, eleven handfuls, before he went to the pile Marinette had hidden behind.

Five handfuls. Seven handfuls….

And a swift kick to the back of the head, directly in the pressure point, from Ladybug. The kick smacked the thug' head into the pile of sapphires, the added weight and sudden movement at the base causing a figurative ton of the precious rocks to fall atop him, rendering him totally out cold if the kick hadn't done so already.

Ladybug grinned. No one had seen her changing into her costume, and she'd gotten a sneak attack off on one of the thugs. Right now, while it was two to one, she was the one who had gained the upper hand.

"Two!" One of the thugs called out, with clear anger and frustration. Two, presumably being the code name that the thug Ladybug had rendered unable to fight had selected, in order to hide who they were. In a way, their code names and masks made them similar to Marinette. Except Ladybug was a Vigilante-Hero. Two was a thief and a thug.

Ladybug stood with her feet apart, and her guard up. Her left hand held her yo-yo tightly, and her blue hair blew slightly with the wind. Since she had been taking combat practice classes thanks to the enrichment course at the CFD, she had developed some humble muscle structure, which was made a bit more obvious thanks to this skin-tight costume. Her calves were obviously more bulk than one expected from a girl like her, and she had some muscle to her biceps. Not a huge amount, and nothing close to Adrien's level, but it was enough to have given her a new level of physical prowess that she hadn't been entirely sure she would ever gain in her life.

She liked having them. It felt good.

"Make this easier and just give it up." She told the would-be thieves. "I don't really have a lot of patience today. I'm frustrated. So just give it up and let's skip a fight."

"Like hell!" Another one of the thieves yelled, this time, a woman's voice. Clearly defiant, it was clear that despite taking a subordinate role in this operation, she was one of the far more seasoned criminals here. Taking up a fighting stance, she prepared to take a stand against the Vigilante in front of her. She seemed to be getting ready to grab a device from her pockets. The Vigilante refused to let her.

Smirking, Ladybug back-handed threw her yo-yo towards the female member of the group, utilizing her Trait to extend the length of the cord by about forty meters, enough to reach, entrap, and tie up the female criminal in one quick swoop.

However, the female was prepared for this, and activated her own power, which allowed her to propel herself off the ground and into the sky. Reaching into her grey trench coat, she pulled out a handgun, a model Glock 17. With impressive aim for someone who was falling through the sky, she began to pull the trigger rapidly, unloading an entire clip of twelve bullets at the young teenager, with remorseless and ruthless fury and not a second's hesitation. She felt nothing towards murdering a child in cold blood.

Quickly slapping her hands onto a nearby bar of steel, Ladybug quickly duplicated the atoms into a shield, that protected the young student underneath it from those twelve shots. She wasn't aware that her breathing had stopped in that brief moment. She came very close to panicking.

Next however, she felt the metal becoming hot, and she became covered in that same emerald green light from before. Skidding out of it, she saw the original thug, the leader, using his own power. It seemed to be some sort of melting ray that emitted heat from its users hand whenever it was willed. Unlike his companion however, this person didn't seem to want to use his natural abilities on Ladybug. He seemed to not want to actually be in a fight, nor did he seem too thrilled at the prospect of killing anybody.

Ladybug had no time to dwell on this however, as she saw the female thug attempting to land on her, with the intention to crush her. A fresh clip was loaded, so Ladybug rolled out of the way, and attempted to disarm the woman as she fell. Her hands reached for the Glock 17, only to be whacked away by the female.

"Get off!" The thug declared, and launched an elbow strike straight for Ladybug's throat.

Pushing back on her refined calves, Ladybug was able to back out of the way, and then roll behind a pile of gold as the bullets began to come firing in. Being shot at was certainly a new experience for Marinette, but after everything she had learned at Combat Practice, and through her Vigilante work with Chat Noir, she was able to keep her cool and handle it with relative ease. Ladybug was calm. Ladybug was cool.

Ladybug was going to win this fight.

"Come out, little Hero!" The female thug jeered, using her power to jump quickly to the wall, so she was able to get a clear shot at Ladybug. Landing on the side, and remaining there for just a few seconds while she aligned her next jump, the crook was met by a girl in fighting stance. The Vigilante was ready for this eventuality. She had already figured out how this Trait worked.

Unable to prevent to activation of her Trait again before she could cancel the jump, the girl sped towards Ladybug, and was met with a merciless right hook to the face. The force gave the female thug a nosebleed, and slammed her into the ground, letting out a sickening cough as she did so.

"No way am I done!" She loudly, and defiantly declared, before she found herself rocketing into the air once again, smirking in the fact she had managed to get away from the Vigilante again. The leaper wiped her bloodied nose, and reached for her pistol again.

It hadn't been a part of the plan to get captured. It never was a plan to have the Heroes come after you. If they were caught before they'd managed to get the jewels, the plan had been for her to use her power to get the group out of there. But the hell with that right now. She was going to kill that cocky -

It wasn't there.

The pistol was gone.

She checked again, and again, and again again. "What the hell?! Where's my gun?!"

"This what you're looking for?"

Glancing just below her, the female thug saw the teenage vigilante rising up with her, the gun that the criminal was wielding prior in the teenagers hands. Using her ability to duplicate atoms, Ladybug had used this as a jumping board, and when the sharp momentum came with it underneath her, she had achieved a feat that allowed her to leap high. Quick, sudden kinetic energy transferred into her, and sent her flying. A trick she had learned through hours of practice. She called it her 'Atomic Leap'.

Ladybug threw the gun aside and allowed it to fall from this incredible height, and grabbed the female thug by the collar, grinning. "You're not getting away this time! I figured out your power! You have a jumping Trait – You can only leap incredibly high, and not suffer any falling damage, but you can only do it from a solid surface! Meaning, in the air, without your gun –" Ladybug slammed her right fist into the jaw of the female thug, with as much force as she possibly could muster. " – You're powerless!"

It was exactly as Ladybug stated. The crooked woman only kept a gun on her because her own ability was worthless when it came to combat. A few failures of what could only be described as attempted fist-fighting, the female thug was rendered unconscious by Ladybug, after knocking out every single atom of air that the woman had in her lungs with a powerful knee strike to the gut.

The young Vigilante landed perfectly, using her defeated foe as a landing pad, since she had an immunity to falling damage, and threw the woman into a pile of crystals, which like the first individual, encased her, and guaranteed she wouldn't be escaping any time soon.

"Alright, that's two of you down…" Ladybug muttered with a deep exhale, letting out the breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding in. despite the clear supremacy she had over this group, and the very obvious skill she held over their combat ability, being shot at certainly was nerve racking in the worst possible way.

All that was left was the final thug. If the guy was calling the shots, he was probably going by the name of One, Ladybug mused. Where even was –

"S-Stay there!"

….He?

Ladybug turned around, to see the criminal staring her down, having apparently grabbed hold of the Glock that she had thrown aside. It was in his right handle, and she could hear the rattles it made as his hands shook. His left hand was glowing that same emerald green that his melting Trait gave him, sheeting his features in a pale green color. Judging from the clear fear that he was showing, he was a young person, and hadn't faced down a sort of situation like this before.

And he certainly hadn't handled a gun before. There wasn't a reason for him to have, with his power. The chances were that he was holding onto the weapon right now because he was scared, and felt that this weapon would help him be safer. In actuality, pointing it at the Vigilante he was supposed to be shooting, it was just making him feel worse.

"I said don't move!" He repeated, straightening his arms. "Turning is moving!"

"You actually said to stay here." Ladybug informed him. "I haven't moved from this spot." She didn't think there was a real need to fight this person. It was clear he wasn't going to shoot her. He didn't want to. Why he was even here, that was a better question.

Looking between his two fallen companions, One gritted his teeth, and tried to look dangerous and intimidating by narrowing his eyebrows. He put a low growl onto his voice, making him sound like he had a throat filled with gravel. "Put – Put your hands in the air!"

"Don't do this." Ladybug said simply, not even pretending to comply with One's demands.

One looked at her for a second, before he pulled back the chamber of the gun, letting out an empty shell. "I said put your damned hands up!"

"You don't want to be here, do you?"

"What?!"

"Doing this. I don't think you even particularly want to be doing this sort of thing. I saw how you hesitated after you used your melting ability on me earlier. Even when your friend was shooting at me, you still looked uneasy."

Taken aback that the Vigilante had paid so much attention to his expressions in such a short time frame, One lowered the weapon for just a second, before quickly tensing up, refusing to allow himself to be talked down like an infant. "Sh-Shut up! I'm walking away from here, with – With a bag full of these valuables! I'll take them, and live like a king for decades!"

What had caused this person to this sort of life? Desperation? Debt? Perhaps he had family who needed money in order to keep their home, or maybe he had been colluded into doing this by his comrades. Whatever the reason, for some logic defying explanation, he had been put in charge of this robbery attempt, since he had been calling the shots.

Perhaps it was because he was smart?

Or maybe it was because he was malleable.

"You don't believe that, do you?" Ladybug asked, taking a step towards him. In truth, she was sweating. Having a gun pointed at her, no matter how nervous the one holding it was, was honestly terrifying. The entire world could turn black in one second, and it would all be over. She had to tread carefully, or end up with a bullet to the head. "You don't honestly think that."

She didn't say it like she was asking him. She was saying it like she knew. He _didn't_ want to be here. He _didn't_ want to do this. He _didn't_ want to shoot her. He _didn't_ want to kill. These weren't guesses, nor were they assumptions. She knew.

Not that that reassured her. All it took was one nervous twitch of the finger and she'd have a hole in her brain.

"Stay back I said!"

"If you shoot me… The Heroes probably won't care too much. In fact, you might get lucky, and they might even see you as the person who stopped one of the evil Vigilantes of Paris. You might even be allowed to skip jail time for doing such a service to the city." Ladybug swallowed, and took another few steps closer, knowing fully well she was playing with fire.

Another tremble came from One's hands.

"But you don't want that, do you? You don't want to kill anyone. I don't know why you're even here. Maybe they forced you to come along." She gestured to the crooked individuals she had rendered unable to move. "But… I think you're not like them at all."

Another step.

"I think you're a good person behind that mask."

Another tremble.

"You don't have to do this."

One final step, and the gun was now directly against Ladybug's forehead. All One had to do was pull the trigger, and Ladybug would be gone. There was no chance for error. It was impossible to miss, impossible to fail in this scenario.

Ladybug would die right now if he pulled the trigger. He'd be a Hero. The Heroes wouldn't even know he had tried to rob this place for all the precious rocks. He'd go home, and live a good life.

He steeled himself…

And dropped the gun. He couldn't do it. He couldn't take a life. His power deactivated, and he fell to his knees. "…I… Give…"

* * *

Ladybug left all the criminals tied up in the streets outside the Deposit Depot, with a note attached to One's shirt, asking the police to go easy on him. It wasn't going to be a huge amount of help, but it was the best that she was going to be able to do for him. She hoped that he would be let off easier than his companions. At the end of the day, he was a criminal still… But he clearly regretted even being there in the first place. Maybe there was a chance for his redemption…

But she'd done everything that she could for him. It would have to be enough.

She found an alley somewhere that she knew people rarely ventured, and began to change, quickly, just in case someone decided that they would be randomly in view of this place at this time of all times. She took the mask off last, and quickly stuffed it into her backpack, quickly scanning the area. Thankfully, there didn't seem to have been anyone around to see her do this.

But no one had seen her transform back into plain old Marinette, the girl who struggled to master her own powers. She had to chuckle. In a way, her being so unskilled with her own powers made her a bit happier now that she wasn't Ladybug anymore. It meant that connecting the two would be a lot harder to do. No one would suspect someone who struggled with their own powers of being one of the two main Vigilantes in Paris.

Sighing, she realized that she had left the cart she had brought the diamonds in back at the Disposal Dump. Thankfully, she could use that as an excuse to return back there to pick it up. She doubted the police or the Heroes would blame her if she said that she ran away because she was afraid of the criminals attacking the place.

"Is life gonna be like this if I actually become a Hero full time?..." She wondered aloud, with a chuckle.

* * *

Adrien was more than aware of the rules regarding the use of Superpowers in public. Unless you were a Hero, a Policeman, Solider, or otherwise, use of them was illegal, except for cases of self-defense, defense of others, and other exceptional circumstances. The reason that such a law existed was because the authorities didn't want to risk anyone who had a violent power using it in public, and causing a mass panic, or even igniting a massacre. These laws were in place so everyone would be able to live together, regardless of what powers they had.

Although, they were a bit more accepting of things such as movement abilities, as long as they were very carefully regulated. That was why, every time Adrien used his Teleportation Trait in public, to get home, get to school or otherwise, technically speaking, he was skirting the law. Teleportation inherently didn't endanger the people around him, and he was very careful not to do so, as well as to not even be seen by the police when he did this.

That was why he was jumping from rooftop to rooftop above the city streets, Teleporting from one building to the next. Normally he wouldn't do such a thing, but today, he was in a hurry to get back home. He had spent far too long at the practice session he had with Nino, Alix and Kim, and if he didn't get home as quickly as possible, his father was going to blow a fuse. He seemed to be in a much fouler mood these days, so while Adrien would normally take whatever opportunity to spend time with his father, he gave him his space for now.

After all, he knew why he was like this. In a few days, it would mark the eleven year anniversary of Adrien's Trait's activation… And the death of his mother by his own hands. Could he ever blame his father for being this way with him around this time of year? No. Of course he couldn't. He was to blame, after all, for what happened to his mother.

No amount of Heroism was ever going to make that up to Father. And it was within his right. Adrien hadn't even forgiven himself for what he'd done. Asking his father to forgive him for it was… Selfish at best.

It also marked the time that Adrien would refuse to activate his Destruction powers. On that day, and that day alone, he would never activate his Destruction Trait, in order to honour her. It was a silly thing, a pointless, self-indulgent tradition that he used as a way to justify what little humanity he must have had left… But it was something that he had done for over a decade, and he wasn't going to stop now. On the anniversary of her death, the very least that he could do was not bare the ugly, charcoal hands that took her from the world.

It was his way of saying he was sorry to her, where ever she happened to be right now. Be it in the afterlife, or still in a hole in the ground. Wherever she was, he hoped that she knew that he did this in honour of her, not in shame of what she had given him.

He Teleported over another rooftop, before he skidded to a halt at the edge of one with ragged breath, which he kept quiet to not alert anyone who happened to be nearby. In need of recharging his stamina, he needed just a few seconds of-

What.

The.

Hell.

Eyes shot as open as they were ever going to get in his entire life, and his blood suddenly stopped. Cold. He didn't even feel his blood flowing throughout his body anymore. Had his circulatory system ceased to function? Did he even care? What relevance did these thoughts have to what this was anymore? He didn't care. About anything right now.

_'_ _No. Way.'_

What he was looking at right now had him shocked. Silent. Beyond all words. For all the 200,000 words of his spoken language, not a single one of them was going to be enough to express what he was looking at. Was he mistaken? No. there was no mistaking that blue hair. That red and black polka dotted jumpsuit. That mask.

There was no denying who it was that had just taken it off the reveal her civilian clothes underneath.

And there was no mistaking that face. Even if it was at a top down angle, Adrien recognized that face.

Ladybug… Was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Holy.

Shit.

Adrien couldn't believe it. He couldn't, not even for a second, comprehend what he was looking at. Ladybug was Marinette? That shy, sweet, blue haired girl who sat behind him every freaking day?! That was the girl he had been admiring, secretly in love with, for well over a month now? The same girl who he fought criminals alongside as the Vigilante duo of Ladybug and Chat Noir?!

That was Marinette?!

His heart thudded loudly. Incredibly loudly. In fact, it beat so loudly, that Marinette craned her head around the alleyway in which she had undressed from her Ladybug costume, looking for the source. Adrien quickly pulled back out of view, so he wouldn't be seen.

A blush was making its way across Adrien's face, and he struggled to breathe. Sweat was now dripping down his forearms as well as his head, his unkempt hair now sticky from the stuff.

Ladybug had been so close to him all this time?...

There was only one word that could describe how he felt now…

And that word was joy.

* * *

Why hadn't Ladybug wanted to reveal who she was to Chat Noir?

That was a question that plagued Adrien that night, as he sat in his room trying to think up theories. In truth, it had been all he had been able to think about ever since the bombshell that he had been dropped with came into contact with. He hadn't meant to see! He really hadn't! It had just been… A huge, huge coincidence that he had happened to stop Teleporting there, and that he'd just happened to look over that alleyway!

Part of him did feel genuine guilt over learning who Ladybug was. He felt like he'd unintentionally betrayed her... She had wanted to keep their identities a secret, and while he had disagreed with the reasons why, he respected Ladybug way too much to argue. He promised her. His feelings for her were no joke, no matter how often she implied her belief to the contrary. He loved her. He loved Ladybug. He knew from the day they defeated Sunstreak, it wouldn't matter who was underneath that mask. It didn't matter - He loved the girl underneath it.

That meant…

He loved Marinette.

And the more he thought about it… The more he liked the idea. Marinette was a nice person, with an eagerness to improve herself. She took her Trait seriously, and was always trying new things with it, to improve her abilities. Yes, she struggled with her Trait, but she showed dedication to figuring it out.

Despite her clear lack of confidence in her own abilities, she was incredibly smart, and Adrien respected her abilities as a warrior, even if they weren't on part with someone like his, or Kim's, or Alix's. The fact that Marinette kept trying to improve, and that she never gave up, was enough for Adrien to admire her for all her faults.

And she was a cute girl, Adrien wouldn't deny that he thought that at times. Her blue hair was a beautiful addition to her, and her light blue eyes just seemed to tie the entire look together, but for her appearance, that was about it. What was truly endearing about Marinette, was the cheerful, happy, and soft, kind, and helpful side that she displayed to nearly every single person in the entirely of their class. The only exception being Chloe, but Chloe got exactly what she gave everyone else. Marinette was willing to stand up for herself now. She was willing to stand up for other people now.

Along with that, her cheerful, bubbly personality was something that cheered him up immensely. The fact that Marinette just seemed to tackle everything that was thrown at her with a smile, even if it did become a shaky smile from time to time, was something he had grown to admire about her. She was incredibly trusting to her friends, but around him, she seemed to have trouble talking. Intimidation perhaps? It was never his intention, but as time went on, Marinette was getting better at just speaking to him.

Marinette displayed something that not a lot of people in their class did demonstrate. Something that Adrien appreciated above everything else. Something that he valued so highly, and so truly, that if he was asked to point to a single thing about a person, he would always mention this.

Loyalty.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a loyal person. Dedicated to her friends and to helping them out whenever they needed it, supporting them in combat whenever she could, and creating openings for her teammates to attack. She never ran, no matter how clear that it was that she would prefer to find a safer spot and plan a counter attack. She would stand by her friends, even against Chloe.

She even became Ladybug… To save him. That night, against Molecular… Marked the first sighting of Ladybug ever. And he remembered thinking that she seemed shaky…

She had donned the mask of Ladybug… To save Adrien. That realization...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng… Loyalty personified…

So… why didn't she want to reveal who it was that she was to Chat Noir?

Perhaps there were a multitude of reasons, Adrien thought to himself, drumming his fingers against his knees, that he couldn't see in the pure blackness that was his bedroom right now. What could those reasons possibly be?

Fear? Fear that Chat would judge her based on how she looked? Fear that he knew who she was, and that he'd betray her to keep himself safe? Was it the fear of the unknown, that she didn't know that she could fully trust Chat Noir yet, and that she needed to hide from him as she did from everyone else around her?

A lack of confidence in herself? Marinette lacked the self-confidence that Adrien knew she needed in order to achieve her fullest potential. Marinette had greatness hidden deep inside her, and if she just could work up that courage to grab that potential, and turn it into pure strength, there would be nothing on this planet that would ever be able to stop her. But right now, she lacked it. Maybe that was why she didn't want to reveal who she was to Chat Noir.

Was it… That she just didn't trust Chat Noir? It… Wasn't like he could blame her. He had openly admitted to becoming a Vigilante because he was inspired by her. There weren't a lot of ways to take this information without becoming disturbed by the implications that this held. A young boy in a ragtag outfit shows up, and more of less declares himself her partner, and then dashes away and she doesn't hear from him until the next night, whereupon the fight he starts against a professional Villain nearly gets them both killed? He could understand how that would disturb her… So maybe that one was his fault…

But… He just couldn't see Marinette letting these things stop her. She was strong. She was dedicated. She was confident. She was… Well, she was Ladybug. Nothing stopped Ladybug… So… What was it?...

And then, he felt he had come up with the answer.

Security.

She had a family. She didn't want to wrap them up in this mess. Her family, the family that she must love so dearly that she couldn't even bear the thought of them getting hurt because of her own ineptitude, because she was so stupid as to trust someone else with who she was who would then betray her. And it was more than that. Her friends would also be in danger. The people that they both knew would become targets to get to her. Nino. Alya. Nathaniel. Kim. Alix. Chloe – They hated one another, but Marinette wouldn't wish this sort of hell on the spoilt girl… And himself.

Vigilantes belonged to a dangerous world. Maybe… Maybe she just needed that extra layer of safety. Just to put her mind at rest. That she would be fine. That her family, her friends, the people who made her smile, were okay. That no one was judging her silently from the shadows…

That was why…

That was why he wouldn't tell Marinette that he knew she was Ladybug. If she needed that security… Then it was best for her to have it. To be able to think to herself in the morning and night, that she, Ladybug, and that she, Marinette, were both okay. That their secrets were safe. To learn that this wasn't the case… It could break her…

He decided that night, that he'd keep Ladybug's secret identity just that. A secret. He'd never let her know. Not until she was ready to tell Chat Noir who she was herself. When that day came, he'd be more than happy to accept Marinette. He'd be more than happy to accept Marinette telling him she was Ladybug. It didn't matter which way around it went.

He decided that he would fight to the death to keep her identity a secret. That if the Traitors, if Hawkmoth, the school, or the Heroes thought that he was going to give up who Ladybug was…. Then they were dead wrong. He would protect her identity, and he would protect her, even if she wasn't asking for it.

He'd never force her to reveal a thing more than she was ready to. That as the promise he made to himself, and to Marinette. That he'd fight for her. And die for her if he had to. And he'd do it with a Cheshire smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so marks the end of the catch up. From now on, new chapters will arrive once they are completed, and will be released on here, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad all simultaneously. Releases tend to be at maximum a week from one another, so I'll get to work on the next chapter ^_^


	19. Kidnapping Arc - The Trigger Of a Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everyone can join the CFD... And those who don't can sometimes get angry...

Kyoyu Oement – Trait – Forced Activation - This ability allows the user to force another individual’s powers to activate, regardless of the precipitants will. The user simply needs to be able to look at their target and blink for their power to activate, whereupon it will, but only if the user desires it. This ability is very weak in real combat situations, however, and has limited use.

It was a power that was a rather situational one, relying heavily on the scenario that the user found themselves in. By no means was it a worthless ability. With enough creativity, Kyoyu had the capacity to become a Hero, the Hero that he had wanted to be since he was a child.

The half Japanese, and half French teenager sported a very ragged appearance. Much of his clothing was in creases and slightly baggy, but he was putting very little effort into that, since he would be changing into his Hero costume very soon. The only real feature he put much effort into was his hair, a natural, shining silver colour, which he kept spiky with hair gel.

Today, he was meeting with a smaller group of his classmates, all carrying around cumbersome metallic suitcases, containing all their Hero costumes, equipment, and requirements for their abilities to be the most useful that they could be. Each member had a grudge that they were holding, and today would be the day that they finally proved that they weren’t weak, that they weren’t pushovers.

The CFD was, by no means, the only Hero academy in Paris. Exactly, there were twenty-seven other schools that did Hero courses as a part of their curriculum. Heroism was by no means an unpopular choice for study, with a large number of positions always being open, there was never an over-saturation of new Heroes to depend those wh o couldn’t defend themselves with their powers.

Naturally, the CFD was always the first choice for anyone who wanted to study in the historic French city. No one cared about how far it would be from their home to travel. No one cared how tough the entry criteria would be. No one cared what it took. Everyone wanted to try and be a student at the third most successful Hero academy in the world.

So it was natural that many students, thousands each year, were denied a place. Spaces were limited for such a prestigious school, so the ones who were accepted were considered to be the best of the best. Miniature celebrities in their own right. They had toppled the trials and tribulations of the legendary CFD courses, and won. On average, there were only maybe three-hundred accepted students a year.

Of course, this did absolutely nothing for the ones who tried, and failed the entry course. In fact, it was like a form of insult all on its own. Those who tried, those who failed, were treated like failures just for not being good enough. For not being strong enough, fast enough, or born with strong enough powers.

It left many of them enraged. So many had tried so hard, for s long. Many had spent years honing their powers and their abilities, only to have their efforts tossed aside and ridiculed. And many angry teenagers often thought of one thing. Revenge.

Feuer Academy produced five such students. Embittered by the fact they had never made the cut to enter the world famous Academy, many of them developed their own plans. Their own ideas. Their own ways to get back at the CFD students who stole their places from them.

Kyoyu Oement was one such student.

With their variety of abilities, they would be able to prove that they were capable of surpassing the students who thought themselves to be above every other person in terms of their abilities.

“So, we got a target chosen?” Kyoyu asked his comrades as they planned scheme.

“Yeah. There’s a rich brat from the CFD who needs to get taken down a peg.” The group’s resident Primal said, his distaste for the target he had selected very clear in his voice. The Primal was named Kankaku, who was born in the Primal homeland of Rekksora. He was a master hand to hand combatant, and his strength was well respected within the group.

“Sweet.” Kyoyu nodded, undoing the folds of his suitcase, and bringing out his Hero costume. Lacking any sense of formality or social etiquette, be began to strip right down, changing into his costume in front of the group, masked only by the lack of lights in the room they were in.

“You couldn’t do that someplace else?” Asked the only female member of the group, who covered her eyes in utter disgust. Her crystal body made slight crunching noises as her limbs moved.

“No point, Crystal. If we wanna get on with this, we should do this quickly.” Kyoyu responded. As he said so, he tied a mask around his eyes, which was dark red in colour, with two streaks of white streaming down in line with his eyes, each of them centered.

The final two members of the group were quieter, not particularly speaking up, although arguably, they were the most noticeable of the group. One had similar physiology to that of a bat, with wings that ran from one of his two bulky fingers, all the way down to his ankles, made from thick variations of his skin. Unsurprisingly thin and slightly pale, this Individual went by the name of Slageko, and he was located on the ceiling, hanging down from a torn off curtain rack by the blacked out window.

The final member has an interesting individual in terms of his appearance, seeming to be a cross between a Human and a shark. His skin was a light grey, and was rough to the touch, with five gills slit on either side of his neck. Jawline filled with sharp teeth, and dorsal fins on either of his forearms. Intimidating to look at wouldn’t be doing him justice.

“Who’s the target then?” The shark-like individual asked, from his spot of learning against the wall, already in full costume. One of the seldom times he ever spoke without being spoken to, and as predicted, was straight to business. His reputation for being blunt and having little care for group talks was well documented. He went by the name of Requin.

The Primal grinned. “I told you, it’s someone pretty damn rich, as well as a show off. Someone who really deserves this sort of thing to happen to them.”

* * *

 

As a general rule of thumb, showing off her abilities was something Chloe preferred to avoid doing, and she did have her reasons. Not that she ever had to justify them to anyone other than herself. Her reasons were her own, and no one else needed to know the reasons she kept her powers hidden for.

Revealing her abilities was only a weakness, one that she wasn’t willing to disclose to anybody. The only thing it would do was leave her more exposed, and more vulnerable to attacks. She would reveal it when it suited her. When she had the total advantage over everyone around her.

When she eventually took on Marinette.

Chloe gritted her teeth, and let out a huff, the heats from her breath causing condensation from the cold temperature to fire out of her mouth. She and Marinette had gone to Pre-School together, and Chloe had been the one of the two of them to activate her powers first. Two years before Marinette activated hers, in fact, and in during that time, Chloe had begun to realize the truth about the way the world worked.

The world valued the powerful. Those with powerful abilities. Those who could use strong Traits and abilities against other people. Those who could create a legion of followers out of sheer power. Those who didn’t have any power were less than the trash that was processed and destroyed every single day – Trash didn’t take up unneeded space and resources. People who had weak powers were worse than that.

And when Marinette showed no signs of developing powers at all… Well, that made her even less valuable, didn’t it? That was worse than being worse than nothing. Not being able to do _anything_ … That made her a liability to the planet, right?

No powers? She wasn’t even the oxygen she wasted when she breathed. She wasn’t worth the food she ate. She wasn’t even worth the wasted atoms that made up her physical being. That was how the world worked, wasn’t it? The weak were a waste. The strong were the people who actually had value.

So that meant that Chloe… Was simply better than Marinette. That meant that Marinette was worthless, and that nothing that happened to her mattered, because she wasn’t strong enough to be of importance. The half French-half Chinese girl had no value. There was nothing – Nothing - special about her.

This is what caused Chloe’s superiority over her blue haired classmate. If she wasn’t going to amount to anything, then what harm could come of Chloe using her for Marinette for her own entertainment? It wasn’t as if she had any other reason for existing. The teasing, and the taunting began soon after Chloe came to this conclusion, flaunting her higher social standing above her classmate, and using her own powers to keep the rest of the class isolated from the lonely Design obsessed girl.

So then… Why? Why in the hell had Marinette – Worthless Marinette – Developed such an enormously strong power so late?! Of everyone that the powerful ability could have gone to, why did it go to the girl who had absolutely no value in her existence?!

The science behind it stated that powerful abilities often take longer to develop. The more capacity that a Trait has, the longer the body needs to develop it. While this is not always the case, mutations and the such none withstanding, it seemed to make sense that Marinette had developed her Trait far later than the rest of her classmates due to her body needing the time to mutate and adapt into the requirements needed to support her Trait.

And indeed, Atom Duplication… It was an incredibly strong ability… But it was _Marinette_ who had it! Worthless Marinette!

Even now, it infuriated Chloe, that such a strong ability was wasted on Marinette! This feeling of anger, this feeling of absolute rejection that she could ever amount to anything that was worthwhile had remained with the blonde haired teenager since Pre-School, since Marinette first activated her power. This absolute resentment that Chloe felt…

That was why she hated Marinette.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

“Chloe?” Sabrina’s timid voice penetrated the thick thoughts of Chloe’s mind, snapping her out of her thoughts and bringing her back into reality.

She and Sabrina were on the streets, making their way to The CFD for the day’s next series of lessons. In the morning, Paris was always busy, with people running to and from locations to get to their destinations on time. On the street Chloe and Sabrina were though, they were the only two people walking along, completely alone.

The spoiled daughter of the mayor of Paris hadn’t spoken a word since Sabrina had met with her at their normal meeting spot, instead option to remain in her own little thinking thought bubble as meek and obedient Sabrina followed behind her, awaiting any sort of instructions that Chloe might have for her, like a trained animal.

Irritated, Chloe glared at the Mind Reader Trait user with dangerous, narrowed eyes that felt like they could stab straight into the orange haired girl’s heart if she slowed them. Just the stare was enough to make Sabrina flinch and avert her gaze elsewhere. When Chloe finally responded, she was slow, and deliberate. “What?”

Swallowing her Adams apple back down her throat, Sabrina stuttered in fear, wishing she hadn’t said anything. Biting her lip, she forced out a question. “A-Are you feeling okay?” This care and concern that she felt towards her best friend was by no means an uncommon display. Sabrina was, even to someone like Adrien, obviously unquestioningly loyal to Chloe, and would look out for her, even if she wasn’t asking to be looked out for. The feeling of pure worry of being left on her own again had turned Sabrina into an obedient slave, but a willing one, just to preserve the friendship she had with Chloe.

In this case though, Chloe was extraordinarily hostile towards Sabrina’s well-meaning question.

Without even thinking, Chloe turned around fully and violently grabbed her friend by the collar with her left hand, and dragged the now shaking Mind Reader’s face right in front of her own, seething. “Were you reading my thoughts again?!”

“N-No! O-Of course I wasn’t, Chloe!”

Chloe had made it a very clear rule – Sabrina was to never, ever, under any circumstance, read her thoughts. Chloe fully hated the very idea of someone in her head, reading her mind, that her thoughts were being distributed to someone else as she thought them!

Sabrina was never to read her thoughts, or there would be hell to pay.

There were reasons Chloe never wanted the things she thought to be read by Sabrina, of all people. Very good reasons as to why she refused to allow Sabrina to ever read her thoughts.

If Sabrina ever learned about how she kept her powers a secret…

The girl within her grip’s face suddenly fell into a mix of confusion and curiosity, her eyebrow jutting up in response to hearing what Chloe had just thought. “W-Wait, what? How you keep your powers a – “

“You liar!” Chloe suddenly pushed Sabrina to the grown with a vicious force alongside her yell. She had gone from calming down slowing to full blown temper tantrum in less than three seconds, skin on her face going dark crimson out of sheer fury. Sabrina looked up at her master with wide eyes in shock and anxiety. “You told me you weren’t reading my damn thoughts! You lied right to my face!”  

“I – I swear I – I didn’t!” Sabrina protested vehemently, trying to back away from her terrifying attacker before hitting a wall. “I – I – It – My – My Trait just activated on its own! “

“How stupid do you think I am?!” Chloe snapped zealously. It had been a while since she had lost her composure like this, and especially with Sabrina. Normally, she tolerated her friend, but she openly disliked her Trait and its implications. This was years of hatred for Sabrina’s abilities pouring out in one heavy handed outburst.

“Well, aren’t you a pleasant one.” A male voice from behind Chloe suddenly caught her attention, prompting her to turn around quickly to see who was interrupting her.

Having somehow made his way onto the same street as the two of them without either Chloe or Sabrina noticing, stood a teenage boy with white hair in a Hero costume. This outfit that the boy was dressed in was one that appeared to be more aesthetic than it did practical. Around the eyes as a mask that was a crimson red colour, and two white vertical lines down the centre of this. Two appendages blew in the wind behind his head, like a pair of red ribbons, which tied to mask firmly to his face.

Along with this, the vast majority of his Hero costume appeared to be a dark red colour, coupled with white and silver. A red body suit that hung off of the boy’s skin, with random, silver lines thrown all over the fabric. On either hand however, were a pair of wrist mounted gauntlets, steel in their material, and spikes on the outside, designed for blocking attacks, and on the fingers, very thin and barely visible Velcro, designed to give a better grip against fabric in order to, again, deflect attacks. Firmly located around the wrist, was a set of combat knives, military standard, locked in place with belts and holsters.

Cold, hazel eyes glared at Chloe from behind silver hair and a crimson red mask. The boy stood there with little care for Sabrina, not paying her much heed after seeing what her power was. The boy was called Kyoyu, not that these two girls knew that. And his target for this mission was Chloe Bourgeois. “Maybe ease up on the poor girl? She said her Trait activated against her will, yeah? That’d be courtesy of mine.”

Chloe looked at the boy in the costume with amusement, mostly at the terrible state of his Hero costume. She didn’t recognize him as a student at the CFD, taking him for either a pathetic attempt at a Vigilante, or going to an inferior school. “That right?”

“Name’s Trigger.” The teenager said simply. “Well, the Hero name is. Call myself that because my Trait lets me activate a person’s Trait just by blinking at them.” He then looked at Sabrina, who was watching this exchange occur between the two with confusion and amazement. “Stay out of the way, unless you wanna get hurt, girl.” He warned, very assertively, so much so that Sabrina flinched. “I’m after the mayor’s daughter.”

“So you know who I am, and you’re still here to try and cause problems with me?” Chloe did a dramatic laugh, placing her extended palm over her lips, feigning sophistication that she didn’t have. “If you know who my father is, then you should know if you lay a finger on me, he’ll have every Hero in the city hunting you down until you’re thrown in prison for the next twenty years!” She burst into another fit of giggles, filling the street with her obnoxious laughter.

“Ask me if I give a crap.”

Suddenly, Chloe stopped laughing. Her hands dropped to her side, and she saw Trigger glaring at her, not a shred of amusement or fear evident on his face. It took her aback. Normally, the mere threat of her father would sent most people into a flurry of apologies and peace gifts. Trigger was doing neither. “E-Excuse me?”

“You think we targeted you at random? How much of an idiot do you take me for? Or rather, how smart do you think you actually are?” Trigger asked coldly. “I know your type fairly well. And every time, you’re all much dumber than you think you really are.”

“How very dare y – “

“I also know that the people who act like the biggest bullies, are in fact, the most insecure people on this planet.” Trigger added on. “You think you’re so above everyone else that they’re beneath you, that you’re the queen bee, and everyone else is your mindless hive mind that needs to bend to your whims. You act tough, and assert yourself at the top, but at the first hint of your position being challenged, and you work yourself into a frenzy. Because now, you can’t reassure yourself that the world revolves around you.”

“Wha – “

“Someone like you is a person who is nothing more than a living pile of fear and insecurity. People who you thought were beneath you have been working hard, and suddenly, you’re in second, third, fourth, and eventually, last place.” Trigger closed his eyes and chuckled. “You’re a typical student at Collège Françoise Dupont, in other words.”

Shuddering at the accuracy, although she would never, ever admit it, Chloe showed her gritted teeth, and turned her hands into two firm fists. “I’ll show you!”

“Not likely.” Trigger shot his eyes opened, and activated his Trait. Forced Activation worked by sending signals to his targets brain, which would force their power to activate involuntarily. The signal was instantaneously activated, and shot towards Chloe, activating her superpowers in an instant.

But nothing happened.

Looking at her hands, Chloe saw no visible changes, but felt that her abilities were activating. She felt her powers surging throughout her body, but without contact, it wouldn’t do anything. In order to use her powers, she needed to touch an opponent. Otherwise, she had no effect on them. “Hah!” She laughed. “So much for that!”

Folding his arms, the Feuer Academy student grinned. “So, you’re a Physical Transmission Trait user. That makes this a lot easier.”

“What? – “

“Cancri! Encase her!” A second male voice called out, thundering throughout the street like a drill sergeant commanding his platoon into attention.

Before the blonde haired girl could make a move, suddenly, she was surrounded by thick crystals that covered every single part of her slim body, rendering her completely immobile, like she was being submerged in icy water, leaving only her face available. Suddenly, she was completely at the mercy of her assailants, unable to move, or in any way defend herself from what they wanted to do to her.

“Chloe!” Sabrina called out, standing to her feet and running to her trapped friend, looking desperately for any sort of way to free the rich girl. Each point was compact and tight, covering up any weaknesses in the original entrapment layer, and several more layers above that to cover up any weaknesses that may have been present.

“Get me out of here!” Chloe screamed in a blind panic, bravado from mere moments ago completely lost on her when faced with real danger. No matter how much she tried to move, tense her barely existing muscles, turn her neck, twitch her fingers, or even move a hair on her body, she was unable to.

An a vain attempt to free her, Sabrina began to tug, pull, punch and push at various points of the cover up that she thought she may have been able to break in order to grant Chloe her freedom, but to no avail. All she ended up with were a set of hurt knuckles and bleeding cuts.

“Well, wow that really _was_ easy.” Trigger muttered to himself, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his costume while he casually walked towards the human-crystal statue. “I’m actually disappointed. Good work, Cancri.”

“You expected less?” Crystal asked, revealing her location within a hidden alleyway. As she stepped out, the crunch of her highly atomically organized rocks treading beneath her own rigidly structured body.

Flinching to dare to look at the attackers, whoever they were, Sabrina was able to get a look at a very distinctly unique appearing person, and one she was certain that she had seen in the streets a few times, in a costume that realistically, would do nothing to hide her identity, considering the composition that this girls Trait gave her.

Cancri, whoever this person was, had a body that was made entirely out of crystalline solids, each of them being a cloudy quartz type of mineral. Along her limbs were jagged cuts, akin to the state one would find a natural crystal in. The girl’s anatomy allowed her to work with this biologically, including a sense of touch and the likes, due to nerve and sensory data intertwined with the DNA of the individual. The area where her mouth and eyes were supposed to be was darkened, being more dark grey than white like the rest of the body was. Outside of this, long stands of what appeared to be Chrysoprase, a green, natural rock, ran down the back of the girl’s head, akin to that of hair, albeit with a more flexible hard mineral.

In terms of a costume, the girl wore a mask, not that it would do her any good, which acted like a helmet of sorts, being made out of pure blue Celestite that fixed itself around the girls face. On her legs and arms, were bracers that acted as supports, aiming to keep the body together in the event of a shattering. The costume itself consisted of a leotard with thousands of crack patterns on it, the background being amethyst purple, and the cracks being emerald green in their colour. The edges and indentations of the girl’s body were visible from them. Along the girls waist, was a belt, lined with all sorts of bags, possibly containing rocks or other sorts of solid materials. The girl was, in appearance, a walking crystal store. 

“Not particularly.” Trigger responded with a shrug. “Just thought since you weren’t keen on your Trait, I’d’ve had to be the one activating it for you. Just glad I don’t have to do this entire plan while Sensor is back there enjoying himself.”

“You think you’d be happy with a Trait that made you look like this?” The rocky girl yelled, before standing next to her victim and tapping the rocks she had formed.

Crystal Quarry – Trait – Crystal – This Trait means the user is able to create and generate crystals that they can use for defensive and combat purposes. The user is able to do this by releasing contained molecules from their body, which become perfectly organized, and begin crystallization. These crystals are as strong and are as durable as crystals that are naturally found, but can be refined and sharp to be more deadly and useful in combat situations. Using this power too much can lead to heavy fatigue that will take time to recover from.

Though she had no idea what was going on, Sabrina knew for a fact that she couldn’t just sit by and let this sort of thing happen, especially not to her best – Her only friend! Two against one wasn’t the most ideal battle in the world, but if she used Mind Reader correctly, she should be able to predict the movement patterns that they wanted to use, and from there… She’d figure that out later!

She couldn’t worry about that sort of thing right now!

Moving quickly, and with nothing else but a fist as her weapon, Sabrina charged straight at Trigger, shouting aloud a sharp battle cry, and quickly closing the distance between the two of them! Aiming to take out the Forced Activation Trait user before he could do whatever it was that he had planned for Chloe, the timid girl planned a strike that would land in the jugular vein, hoping to knock out Trigger before a fight even began between them. Mind Reader indicated he hadn’t even registered her as a threat yet! She had the advantage! Her aim was good, so she threw the punch –

And suddenly, she found herself hurtling through the air and down the street, blood pouring from her nose, and a sharp pain shooting throughout her face, sending her into absolute agony. The force had been so instantaneous that Sabrina hadn’t even registered any of the pain until she realized that she was flying from a strike. Before she hit the tarmac beneath her, she clutched her nose, and felt the sting of her skin send tears welling into her large, sea green eyes.

She fell back down to the Earth with an almighty thud the jagged surface of the ground doing nothing but sending harsh cuts along her skin. The impact had such force to it, that she was rebounded into the air again, and landed in much the same way, and the same thing happened again for a third and final time, before Sabrina violently skidded to a half on her face, glasses scratched and cracked, and skin shredded to pieces. Sharp pain now ran through her entire body, stinging and bleeding, her clothing totally ruined and torn apart, looking like she’d found it outside a garbage tip.

“Sabrina!” Chloe yelled out for her friend. Before anything else could be said, Chloe’s mouth was covered in crystals, thanks to the Trait that was Cancri’s sealing her mouth shut, acting like duct tape to silence the teenage girl. “Mmmmrph!!”

“Well, that was stupid.” Cancri commented, the dull, bored tone she used indicating exasperation and boredom with the futile attempt at a retaliatory strike that Sabrina had just gone for. She hadn’t been the one to strike Sabrina though.

That went to the man who looked like a shark, currently baring his jagged, sharp teeth at the bleeding girl in question.

“Steady on there, Predator.” Trigger informed, putting a hand on his teammates shoulder to try to get his to ease up. He recognized the ruthlessness in the attack, suggesting that Requin, Hero name Predator, had put in more than the needed amount of force. “We need her intact, remember?”

Following what looked like a killer’s glare, Predator stood back upright with a grunt, irritated at his inability to use his full power. He bore his jaw filled with his large, razor sharp, serrated teeth, before he complied with the request Trigger was making, for him to back off. Uncramping a piece of paper in his hand, Predator twitched. “Damn it. I got blood on the note.”

“I guess it’ll work for dramatic effect.” The dry joke didn’t raise a single laugh, so Trigger simply took the notice from the shark student, and tossed it over to Sabrina with an under armed throw. It landed just a few inches from the orange haired girl’s face, who was struggling to keep looking at the team of three terrifying people. “Okay, listen up, girl. You’re our messenger, so get this wrong, and this blonde girl isn’t gonna have a fun time.”

Sabrina spat out some blood from her mouth and managed to quietly mutter, “I already know what you want…” Mind Reader told her exactly what was going to happen, and to be perfectly honest, the concept of what was about to happen utterly terrified her.

These people were kidnapping Chloe.

Purely to get into a right with students of the CFD.

* * *

 

Right there. She was right there. Ladybug was right freaking behind him!

Just knowing this, just even contemplating this… This… Adrien couldn’t even begin to comprehend the magnitude of what was happening around him. Marinette was sat behind him, doing the normal things that she normally did, and had been doing for the past month and a bit. Writing, talking, and helping out their classmates with their costumes. Laughing with Alya, trading jokes with Nino.

And she was the Vigilante he was hopelessly in love with.

It took every single ounce of his mental fortitude to not turn around and just straight up stare at her like a lost puppy. He was having to actively fight his own muscles to not turn around at just trace the similarities that the two of them shared into his memory, to ingrain them in there until he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Blue hair, and blue eyes… Beautiful, and rare to boot. At least, the eyes were. Blue hair had become a natural hair colour nearly three thousand years ago, and by no means was uncommon anymore. As Traits developed and were passed down, genetics altered. Genes, strands of DNA, and mutations led to some interesting Human visual quirks. Practically every single colour on the spectrum visible to Humans could now be a hair, eye, or skin colour, and natural highlights were also in abundance. It was completely possible for these things to be random too, and for a baby to share nearly no physical similarities to the parents. A child with green hair being born to two blondes wasn’t a rarity in the slightest anymore. Frankly, the fact so very few people in their class had no obvious visual quirks was a statistical miracle.

So Adrien could be forgiven for not comparing Ladybug and Marinette based on these two factors alone. The freckles hadn’t been enough to work with either, since both of them were so very light, they were hardly even visible. Body type wasn’t anything to work off of either… Since Adrien didn’t stare at Marinette enough to really guess her body frame. Ladybug on the other hand… Well, technically, now that he thought about it, he _had_ stared at Marinette enough to know her body frame…

Blushing, Adrien tried his best to just evaporate into the air and never return back to physical being. He tried to hide his blush the best he could, so Nino wouldn’t be able to call him out on it.

He didn’t know what to do, or even what to think about Ladybug being right behind him right now. If he were Chat Noir, he could stroll up suave as hell and throw a pick up line or two her way, not that that ever did him any good, but it would be something at least. Now, he was struggling to find a way to interact with one of his closest friends at the CFD, and to make matters even more awkward, this was someone who he had a valued friendship with, and he had no idea how he was supposed to interact like this around her. What were the chances she liked him? Way too low, he thought.

But he was determined to keep her secret. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not Ladybug. That was the story, and he’d defend this story until he died. Her secret, her Vigilante double life…. He’d keep it safe, and keep it from her, to give her that comfort and security.

The days had been going slowly for the most part, no one really gaining any sort of traction in their work. The routine was the same, theory and ethics in the morning, lunch, and the afternoon was filled with practice for combat, and inspections of the costumes, looking for ways to cut corners, and add more details to the designs. Scenario runs and battle practice were all still high priorities, with Adrien being at the top of the class in those regards respectively. The downside was, it didn’t give him much of a challenge anymore, and therefore, he couldn’t improve.

Fortunately, his outings as Chat Noir alongside Ladybug – Marinette, had been giving him that edge that he needed to hone his skills. Just last night, the two of them had taken down someone with a Hacking Trait who used their powers to rob three stores across Paris at once.

And the entire time, Adrien had come so close to blurting out his partners name, not her alias.

He blushed a second time.

“Dude, you alright?” Nino asked, calling attention to the blonde boy’s current silent demeanor. While he was normally shy and quiet, he wasn’t really ever the silent type. He’d attempt to join in a discussion, adding in his opinion onto certain topics, but today, he was dead quiet. This worried the Moroccan descendant, concerned about the state of his best friend.

Adrien jumped for a second, surprised by Nino’s sudden calling of his name. He snapped out of his little world and came tumbling back into reality. “H-Huh? Y-Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I kind of just… Zoned out for a minute there.”

“You’ve been zoning out a lot since this year started up.” Nino collected up the water vapor from the air around his hand, and began to spin it into a ball, levitating it around his head out of boredom. His face narrowed as he looked for signs of drowsiness in Adrien’s facial expression, and half preparing to throw the ball of water in his face to snap him back into reality.

There wasn’t a huge number of excuses that Adrien could give in response to this, since he knew the accusations to be true. So much had happened in this first month of school that he’d had spasms of drifting into his own little world, and becoming detached from the people and places around him as he struggled to focus. He got his work done, certainly, but the second he was done, it wasn’t uncommon for him to just stare at the white board with the weirdest grin on his face for maybe twenty, thirty minutes.

“Just… Tired.” Adrien tried to brush it off as such, with a weak smile and a wave of dismissal.

His best friend looked about ready to call him out on his lie, but in that second, the door to the classroom swung open with such speed, the students thought that for a second, the glass in the room’s windows and door-frame would shatter beyond repair. At first, they assumed it to be Ms. Mendeleiev in a bad mood, but what they saw completely threw them off.

It was Sabrina, Chloe’s essentially slave, covered in dirt, cuts and bruises that were pattered all across her body and visible skin, like she had just got thrown through a window. Her breathing was fast and erratic, indicating a loss of breath. The way she was leaning on the door for support, like she was about to collapse, was evident in the weakness her knees were displaying, shaking uncontrollably.

Glasses cracked, clothes torn…

The class just stared at her for a moment, registering what it was that they were looking at. For some of them, it simply did not register. This had come out of nowhere, the shock, the surprise, and the… Just what was happening right now?

“Sabrina?!” Alya was the one who spoke up first after seeing the orange haired girl, shooting up from her seat in surprise, and in order to get a better look at the battered teenage classmate.

The Mind Reader seemed to be about to say something, but it appeared that the pain that she was in from whatever reason had done this to the poor girl was crippling her ability to do so, or to even stand up. She tried to take a step forward, but instead wound up collapsing.

Reaction quickly, Adrien Teleported and caught Sabrina before she hit the floor, gently lowering her to the ground. Already, she was unconscious, out old before she’d even hit the floor. In falling however, she dropped a wrapped up note, covered in splats of crimson red all over, and some India ink writing within it, onto the floor.

Now, a few more students begun to react, now that they were fully registering what was going on. Looks of shock, disgust and anger suddenly surged through the class, and a couple of students dived out of their seats in order to help Adrien with the poor girl. Rose and Alix were the first once on the scene, the High Speed Trait user dashing over in less than a second to help Adrien lower her to the floor.

“What the hell?!”

“Is she okay?!”

A thousand and one questions and statements were suddenly being yelled at Adrien and Alix as the two of them attempted to lower the girl without adding to her abundant injuries. What was concerning about this was the sheer levels of blood seeping out of Sabrina. Nothing fatal, but enough to make it look like she’d just run through no-man’s-land in the Great Trait War. It was amazing she hadn’t been stopped, or taken to a hospital, or something before she even got here.

Due to her association with Chloe, Sabrina was never particularly a popular student, at least, that’s was Chloe seemed to have had her convinced of, but the reality of it was, the entire class felt sorry for her, and it never showed brighter more than in this moment, and sadly, she wasn’t awake to see it. Regardless of this, before long, the entire class was up and crowding around the poor girl, seeing if there was anything that they could do to help her.

“Ivan, go get the nurse!” Adrien ordered the bulky Terrakinetic Trait user. His order was obeyed without question, as Ivan dashed as quickly as he could to the floor below them to acquire the nearest medical professional, moving with speed many were surprised he actually had.

Next, Nino used his Trait to gather water from the air, and washed over the various cuts that he could see, to wash out the dirt and grime they had collected in them. As he did so, Marinette didn’t waste any time in duplicating skin that corresponded with Sabrina’s atomic structure to cover up the cuts, in a manner similar to that she had done with Chat Noir, and with roughly the same results. While it wouldn’t be a permanent fix, it would do until an actual doctor saw to her wounds.

It ended up being Rose who picked up the note that Sabrina had ran in with and dropped. She noticed the black ink contrasting with the red blood on the material, and unfolded it without even thinking about it. Reading what she did, and learning what was happening, Rose had to stifle a very loud gasp of pure disbelief and shock before she composed herself. Since he was closest, Rose held it out for the blond model to read. “A-Adrien… You might want to see this…”

Glancing at the paper, Adrien needed a second to adjust his green eyes to the sloppy handwriting and dried crimson. Once he actually was able to comprehend what he was reading, he switched places with Rose, allowing her to tend to Sabrina while he read the message.

What he read filled him with nothing but hatred.

_‘CFD Students of the Hero Course. We challenge you. Your classmate, Chloe, is with us. If we learn that the Heroes have been called, she will be made obsolete. Warehouse, on the Berge de la Prairie.’_

Adrien blinked. This was a joke, right? They were serious, whoever these people were? They…

His Destruction Trait activated, turning the paper into nothing but dust.

He was enraged.  The only person who saw his face in that moment was Rose, and she was absolutely terrified of the look of anger and fury that Adrien now wore. He Teleported to the wall, and tore open one of the sliding doors, to acquire a large, silver briefcase containing his Hero Costume within it.

He slammed it straight onto the nearest desk, which just happened to be Nathaniel’s. Even though he was about five meters away, the red haired artist flinched as if it had happened right next to him. One of his drawings was now being crushed by a heavy suitcase, but Adrien couldn’t give a crap about that.

“Adrien?” Alya asked, unnerved by what Adrien was doing. She hadn’t seen him this upset before. He looked like he was about to kill someone.

Without saying a word, the blond student tore off his jacket and threw it to one side, not giving a holy damn where it landed, revealing his normal tank top that displayed his muscles, regardless of if he wanted them to be shown off or not. Violently, he flung open the briefcase, and grabbed his Hero mask, and fastened it tightly around his eyes.

It was Kim who spoke up next, intending to receive an explanation as to his actions. The Vietnamese descendant stood talk and loudly demanded, “Adrien? What are you –“

“They kidnapped Chloe!” Adrien yelled in pure anger, bringing up his foot onto a nearby seat and began unfastening his first shoelace. Upon taking off the Converse branded shoe, he threw it across the room, and quickly began to replace it with his steel tipped military standard boot. He slammed the magnet-based lock together tightly, before moving onto the next one.

“Wait, what?” Alix questioned, standing up again with eyes widened at Adrien’s loud outburst. “Who?”

“The same guys who did that to Sabrina!” Another magnetic lock on his other foot was activated, so Adrien began to attach his metallic based leg armour to his trousers. He was lucky that these ones were loose fitting enough to be a decent substitute for his official Hero clothing, but he didn’t feel like stripping down to the boxers in front of everyone. He didn’t have time for that anyway! “Those bastards want a fight with us! They’ve taken her to a warehouse or something, apparently at the Berge de la Prairie!”

Mutters began to spread as Adrien locked all his armour, and then next, his elbow pads into place, completing his transformation from Adrien, into his Hero, Decay. He then fasted his waist-based cape onto his custom made belt. The flare-shaped appendages stuck out behind his head, making him look like he had gained an extra foot in height. The intimidation that this costume gave when Adrien was infuriated was something else to behold. He could almost be mistaken for a Villain, his green eyes narrowed and focused, white teeth bore, and hands gripped like claws, ready to scratch out someone’s eye, as slowly and painfully as physically possible.

Marinette was actually scared of Adrien in this moment.

“We’ll call the Heroes!” Juleka suggested, already reaching for her phone to make a connection to the police. “They’ll be able to – “

“They said if we call the Heroes, they’d make her ‘Obsolete.’ I don’t know what that means, but they said they wanted to challenge us.”

Rage circulated his veins, filling him with so much vexation that his limbs shook. No, Chloe wasn’t a particularly good person, and yes, she probably did deserve to have something happen to her to shake her up a bit, but… No. This was so wrong on so many different levels, it threatened to make Adrien explode.

“D-Dude, calm down.” Nino tried to reassure his friend, with an awkward smile and sweat dripping from his brow. “You know the rules about using Traits without a Hero License. It’s Vigilantis –“

“I know damn well what it is. I’m going to go save her.” Adrien declared. “I don’t give a damn about the Heroes, or that she’s probably the cruelest person in the class.” His right hand suddenly turned charcoal black, his Destructive Trait activated. In an act of pure aggression, he slammed his fist into the desk he stood by, smashing it into two pieces, and disintegrating the remains. For the first time in his life, the spread of his Traits dark lining coloured the jugular veins in his neck, further than they had ever gone before. Bubbles from his Trait began to float in the air around him. “They kidnapped one of us. They did that to Sabrina! And they kidnapped my friend! I’m gonna go over there, and Disintegrate them all into nothing but dust!”

There was a few seconds of shock and surprise at Adrien’s sudden violent outburst. He’d gone from zero to three hundred in a matter of seconds. No one had ever seen him like this. Not when they were killing Akuma. He’d even had a smile on his face then, and not even when he was fighting Villains. He was the only known person to have taken on a Villain in a fight, and that hadn’t gotten him worked up as much as this clearly did. 

But he wasn’t alone.

“If we ignore this, then why are we even trying to be Heroes?” Surprisingly, it was Kim who spoke his support of Adrien’s loud declaration, not even phased by the destruction the angry teenager had caused, mostly because he shared the same outrage. A streak of Lava ran down his forehead at his activation, and at the same time, he slammed his left hand into his open right one, the impact being crisp and clear for all to hear. “I’m in. Let me change into costume, and we’ll go save Chloe!”

His altruistic agreement was cut short when he received a jab in the ribs from Alix. “Trying to play the Hero to the damsel in distress of your crush, eh Kim?”

“That – That’s not what – “

The High Speed Trait user sighed and grinned. “You’re helpless. If meathead here’s in, I am too. Even if Chloe gets on my damned nerves every single freaking day of the week. You sure we can’t just leave her?” Before she got a response, she held up a hand, signalling to stop the rebuke before it came. “That was a joke.”

“So am I. Helping, that is.”

Amazingly, and what came as a huge shock to Adrien, was Alya’s declaration of joining in the rescue effort. Alya hated Chloe. With an absolute passion, seeing her as nothing but evil… And she was willing to help?!

“Alya?!” Marinette’s voice rose in confusion and shock.

Chuckling, Alya grinned. “I don’t like Chloe at all, but even she doesn’t deserve this to happen to her, girl. This is messed up, and I wanna help.”

“I also volunteer.” Max’s voice was the next one to raise up. “Statistically, you’re at an advantage when you know what your opponent’s abilities will be. By having me on the battlefield, I will be able to provide excellent analysis on their abilities to raise your chances of success.” The almost mathematical way of his speaking pattern ran on a bit more than it needed to, but with Max’s Trait, he was definitely a good choice for a rescue operation.

Adrien and Marinette were both taken aback by this sudden willingness to put themselves at risk for the one person in the class they all universally seemed to dislike (Kim being a possible exception, based on what Alix had just said). A lot of the time, they all discussed how happier they thought they would be were Chloe not in the CFD Hero course. Many wanted her gone… But now she was in danger…

They were all willing to save her.

This was the true nature of the Hero Course. While they may complain about her, each and every person in the class knew that Chloe wasn’t deserving of being kidnapped for a bargaining chip to have a brawl with whoever these anonymous attackers were.

“I-I want to help too!” Rose shot up her hand to join in the adventure to get Chloe back.

“No.” Adrien shook his head, his appendages swaying as he did so. He was grabbing the suitcases of his classmates and giving them out to their respective owners, handing one to Alya as he responded to the blond haired girl. “Five people is already pushing my weight limit. Hell, three people is pushing me. Besides, we need some people to go tell the Heroes what’s going on.”

“But – But you said that – “

“If we engage the kidnappers while the Heroes arrive, the kidnappers won’t be able to do a damn thing about it if we’re in the middle of a battle.” The costumed student explained. “We’re just going to buy time. If we get Chloe, then that’s awesome, but if we just engage the enemy in combat, then that’ll serve as a distraction enough in itself.”

“A-Adrien, you can’t – This is – “

“Rose.” Adrien stopped, and looked at the Cryokinetic Trait user. “I need you to go and tell the Heroes in person. We can’t risk the chances our phones are being watched by a technological Trait.” Gesturing towards Juleka, Adrien nodded. “You should go with her. Make sure she gets there safe.”

“I’ll go too.” Marinette said, flatly. “Not because I want to help Chloe. To make sure Rose and Juleka are okay. Nothing else.”

Mylene shuddered. “T-That’s a bit harsh, Marinette…”

“Chloe’s made my life a living hell for the past fifteen years.” The Conversion Trait user said simply. “I couldn’t care less what happens to her right now.”

Those with battle scars were those to be feared, Adrien felt.

The Devil hadn’t wanted them, so he’d sent them straight back from Hell to continue to fight on the surface.

Only in his case, Adrien had been born again, with the powers that disgusted himself, but were also ruthlessly deadly.

The day he went to save Chloe was the day of the anniversary of his mother’s death, and he broke his vow to never use his Destruction Trait on this day.

He was sorry to his mother… But he was even more sorry for what he was about to do to these kidnappers.

Chloe was his friend. And they had kidnapped her. Sabrina was his friend, and they had hurt her.

So he was going to hurt them back.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact – Each member of the Kidnapping Five specializes in a different style of martial arts. I’m also gonna leave each of their mini-bio’s at the end of each chapter, so you can get a better feel for them. I’ve been excited for this arc for a while now, so I hope you enjoy ^_^
> 
> Kyoyu Oement – Forced Activation - Since his Trait is very limited in a combat situation, he is creative by necessity, and more useful in sneak based attacks and recon missions rather than a straight up fistfight. However, he does possess proficiency in the martial arts of Aikido – redirecting enemy attacks, and throwing them away from him, and returning in to lock joints.
> 
> Kyoyu is a person who has little to no social etiquette, going as far as to strip in front of his teammates in order to change into his Hero costume in order to save time. He is blunt at to the point, not feeling the need to waste time when it comes to planning an attack. He doesn’t mix his words, and he doesn’t at all hide his resentment of the CFD. He feels no guilt when it comes to kidnapping in order to provoke CFD students into attacking him and his group. He also suffers an inferiority complex, wanting to prove that he is not weak, and is capable of being a Hero.
> 
> His Hero name is Trigger


	20. Because Of Boredom

"Urgh…"

"Adrien, you okay, man?"

Laying face first on top of a building just outside of the Berge de la Prairie, Adrien lacked any sort of energy in his system. Teleporting as constantly as he had been, carrying Kim and Max along for the ride had been a forced march through Hell. He thanked God for Alya and Alix's Traits. Using Broadband, Alya was able to Teleport to Kim's phone by keeping the two in a phone call, so she never lagged behind, and this saved Adrien strain, and Alix was just quick. She could easily keep up by using High Speed. That left Kim and Max being the only two who needed help moving from place to place.

As it turned out, Kim was surprisingly heavy, despite his slim build. Perhaps it was to do with his Lava Trait, or maybe it was to do with the costume he was sporting.

Each one of the students had changed into their Hero Costume attires, all designed to boost their powers effectiveness, acting as sort of contraptions to add to certain aspects of their powers. Kim's, for example, possessed a large storage tank on his left forearm, that funneled wires and hollow pipes to a container also located on his back. Each of them was made of metal Tungsten, making them incredibly heavy, not that it seemed to bother Kim too much. A small glass window on the side that showed just how much lava was stored in the container. Along with this, he wore an orange jumpsuit with red gradients around his shoulders. His right forearm was left bare, alone to allow him the access to his Lava, varying in type from Rhyolite to Basalt. Anything contained within his storage tanks was Rhyolite, due to it being the lowest in temperature.

The jumpsuit was incredibly absorbent, channeling any Lava secreted by Kim and allowing the various tubes and pipes to send it directly to the storage tanks, where it would build up. By activating a seal on the costume, Kim was capable of firing off large blobs of concentrated, or just hugely destructive conglomerations, of his deadly secretion Trait. He didn't bother wearing a mask, since it would most likely just get burned off whenever he sweated lava.

Gasping, Adrien took a few deep breaths. The weight limit that Adrien had was easily surpassed thanks to all that metal Tungsten and perhaps a gallon or two of lava swirling around inside the canisters, without question. He struggled to answer for a few moments, before forcing out some strained words. "I'm… I'm… I'm okay, Alya… Th- Thanks…"

"Meathead too much for you?" Alix asked, crouching down to better get a look at Adrien and giving his face-down body a cocky grin, brushing a stray strand of her pink hair away from her eyes.

"Hothead." Kim corrected, reminding her of his chosen Hero name.

"Whatever." The High Speed Trait user brushed aside, before grabbing Adrien by the shoulders and dragging him upright, so he would stop face planting the floor. "Get up, Agreste, we've got a job to do. You're the one leading this little rescue operation, remember?"

Unlike Kim, Alix's costume wasn't designed asymmetrically, nor was it designed to boost her Traits power. Simply put, it was all designed to be done in a defensive capacity. Since controlling turning was a difficult thing to do for Alix, and combining that her power really did leave only a small amount of room for combat, Alix had designed a costume that took advantage of lightweight Kevlar packed all around her body, which lessened the impact of her running into walls and getting hit by objects, overall improving her chances of survival in a fight. A side effect was that it was also bullet resistant, due to being made of said material. This material was a dark grey, but was brightened up by pockets of green streaks that covered the fabric, and also gave her afterimages a green line as she dashed along. She also wore a thick helmet with a see through visor, designed to defend her from concussions.

All in all, it was impressive that she was able to keep using her powers with the outfit on. It spoke volumes of her physical capabilities, in retrospect. Her being able to pick up Adrien just added to that further.

Where they were located on the Berge de la Prairie was on the edge of the River Seine, and on the corner of the Avenue Joséphine, opposite the Île de la Chaussée. A small portion of the Seine stood between them and the only logical place a warehouse could be from this current location.

There was a certain part of Adrien that was… Disappointed that Marinette had refused to help in the rescue operation. She was Ladybug, after all. Surely if anyone should be here, fighting to help the innocent… It should be Ladybug?... But, perhaps this was just one task too much for her. Knowing Chloe and how she liked to torment… Adrien wouldn't be able to necessarily say he blamed Ladybug for not showing.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Adrien patted Max on the shoulder. "Think you can… Check the area for us?"

With a nod, Max stepped forward, and he took a deep breath. He looked around the area quickly, before activating his Trait. In an instant, his eyes flashed along every colour of the spectrum, as the information poured into his eyes. "Scanning now."

Max Kante – Trait – Analysis – Max possesses the ability to overlook and scan any area that he desires to focus on, allowing him to see through walls, buildings, and acquire information on a target that he chooses. He is even able to gather information on his opponents Powers! However, this power does not give him the details, such as weaknesses, or even exactly what the targets power is. However, he is able to judge a power based on a number scale, level one being the weakest, and number five being the strongest. Specifics are not available for this. Also, he cannot hear anything that is being said if he is too far away from the location. His maximum range of scanning is approximately a one mile radius, and if he were to overuse this power, he would receive a migraine from processing too much information at once.

Analysis was a power that specifically outfitted Max towards an information gathering role. That wasn't to say he was worthless in hand-to-hand combat, but brains were valued far more than brawn was when it came to their dark skinned classmate. In order to give him some sort of an edge in combat, Max wore a helmet that had an automatic targeting system, which was connected to a set of gauntlets that he wore, which has the ability to fire short bursts of lasers from the wrist. Overusing these would cause the metal to overheat and burn Max, but he had decided the risks were worth it anyway. Marinette had been the one to design it for him, and he'd been thankful to her since.

Information began to become translated to him as he scanned the area around the group. Max saw the movements, the outlines of people with a tint of orange, counting three people in a warehouse across the Seine from the rescue group.

Chloe was in there, currently tied to a chair. Conscious, but yelling at her captors about God knew what.

"She's in there. Blue and white warehouse, approximately 247 meters away." Max reported. He didn't waste time, going straight into his assessment of the situation. "Three individuals in there I don't know of, but I presume to be her kidnappers stand near her. All three are power level four – That is to say, none of them are particularly weak. I recommend we approach this situation with extreme caution where possible."

"Any idea what sort of Powers they're working with?" Alya asked, standing on the edge of the rooftop, adjusting her own costume for the upcoming battle, equipping a smartphone into a placeholder on her wrists.

"From what I can gather, one of them has a body that is made entirely from natural minerals of the Earth, such as crystals and other such elements. Based on that, I can only hypothesize that her power relates to that in some way." Sighing in disappointment, he added, "I'm sorry, but everything outside of that is beyond my understanding. I can't provide you with anything else."

"It's more than we had a minute ago." Kim patted Max on the back with his right hand, offering his friend a warm grin. "Good work, buddy. The next step… Is figuring out how we're gonna do this."

One wouldn't expect Max and Kim to be the sorts of people to be good friends as they were. Without knowing them, many people came to the conclusion that they two despised one another, but in actuality, they were two incredibly close friends, backing one another up in the areas that the other one was weak in. Max, advising caution and tactics, and providing information for Kim, and Kim asserting power and dominance against targets when required. Both were so different, yet they made a great team.

Another sharp inhale came from Adrien, still attempting to reclaim his breath. Based on the knowledge that they had, they knew that the kidnappers had planned this, so they had to tread carefully. Ideally, without having to fight at all, to guarantee Chloe's safety… Not to say that Adrien didn't want to have a fight with these damn people. "So… Anyone got any ideas on how we wanna do this?"

Silence, since no one really had any sort of clue. Charging in through the front was basically a one-way ticket to getting the ever loving crap beaten out of them, but it wasn't like they had a whole plethora of other options to work with. Stealth may be viable, but it would be difficult to pull off, particularly with three members of the group in the same room as Chloe.

A snatch and grab may work, but… No. With Adrien's Teleportation Trait's after effect, he would leave a big puff of dust, and it would be painfully obvious that he was there. A chase would follow instantly, with all three of the kidnappers ruthlessly using their powers to take Adrien out of commission…

Three attackers… There was something about that number that Alya distrusted… Taking on the CFD was already a very gutsy move for basically anyone, but the idea that three people thought that they could do it on their own?... No, there wasn't a chance of that. Three was just too small a number, and if there were three of them, why would they all have crammed themselves into one room? No defensive perimeters? No lookouts? No guarding?...

"Um… Adrien?"

"Yeah, Alya? You have an idea?"

"How many attackers did that note say there were?"

"Didn't say. Why?"

"Isn't that kind of a small number of people for something like this? I mean, the CFD is reputed to have the strongest students in the country… I can't even see Villains taking us on with just three members…"

Logically, it made sense. The CFD was one of the three most prestigious Hero schools on the planet. The idea that anyone thought they could take on the monster of a school was arrogant at best, and suicidal at worst. Even a three man team wouldn't be enough.

As if on cue the mood shifted, and before anyone could comment on it, shooting past them like a bullet, a huge, bat like creature came swooping like a dive bomber. With large, claw like feet, the creature attempted to glad hold of Kim, but missed by a few centimeters, but it was close enough to spark Kim to activate his powers in response. A ball of lava began to pool itself within his right hands, ready to retaliate if the flyer attacked again.

A two meter long wingspan from large fingertip to large fingertip, made up of a clear amount of skin, the creature turned to face the squad of Heroes, displaying itself to be bat-like in appearance. In addition to having a set of large wings, the individual also has a narrow snout as opposed to a face, and had white complexity, almost like an albino Human. Fitting this, the bat had red eyes, and a long band of hair that flowed behind it, totally dishevelled and white as well.

Grabbing hold of a lamppost with their enlarged, and hanging from underneath it just like the creature this Human had adaptations of, the creature stared at the group of five. "You're the CFD students, right? `Good to meet'cha. Name's Slageko, but the Hero name is Fang. You're here for the rich brat, yeah?"

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to realize, this was a fourth, an unseen member of the kidnapping group. The attire he wore made a lot of sense suddenly, since each of his limbs seemed equipped for combat, particularly his legs. Lightweight armour designed to survive powerful impacts while not sacrificing mobility – They were a more flexible version of the kind Adrien was wearing at this very second. It implied a far more kicking orientated battle style than his appearance would suggest. His overall appearance would suggest… Adrien didn't know what to make of this bat-like Human.

However, based on what had been said, he knew where Chloe was. "What have you done with her?"

"Honestly, I'd be happy to give her over to you guys. She's loud. And annoying." Slageko responded with sigh. "If every one of you at the CFD is like her, honestly, I'm glad I didn't make the cut. Not my call to make though. If you wanna get back the girl, you're gonna have to take me and my crew out."

"We can take him out easily." Alix commented, whispering quietly to her group. "He doesn't look too tough."

"You don't either, Lil' Miss Pink, but you don't hear me insulting your looks, do ya?" The bat-Human flicked his large ears, indicating that they weren't just an appearance piece. Before awaiting a response to either one of the questions he had asked, Slageko took a deep breath, visibly puffing up his chest from the intake of oxygen.

And then he released it.

Glass shattered, lights flickered, and the air suddenly became sharp, the molecules that made up the breeze around them tattles the rescue groups heads and blood itself. The lava gathered in Kim's hands dripped and fell, burning a messy hole straight through the rooftop they stood upon, luckily not hurting a single member of the group.

Ears began to bleed, constant ringing like an explosion had gone off besides them as the screech kept coming and coming, never stopping. What made matters worse was that Adrien tried his best to activate his Teleportation Trait, but it refused to follow his commandments. Whenever he did use his movement ability, he was only able to shuffle maybe an inch or two to the side, and doing so caused him insane levels of pain. It didn't stop there though.

Focusing on the pain only brought more pain to the victims, as they felt the sound-waves bounce back and forth, like the vibrations ricocheted off solid matter and bounced back in the opposite direction. Because of how the squad was positioned, the vibrations bounced off one another, sending the pain back though the individuals all over again!

This had to be Slageko's powers, surely. Whatever he was doing was reliant on his screech. The more air he was able to take in… That had to have something to do with it… Or did he really have all the adaptations of a bat, and this was him overloading his power? Whichever it was… It freaking hurt!

His ears bleeding, Adrien let out a scream through his tightly gritted teeth. "Rrrrgh! What the hell kind of Trait is this?!"

Slageko Ekko – Trait - Echolocation – Like a bat, the user is able to emit a frequency that will bounce off of objects, and back to the user. The user can then use this to gauge what size, object, and various other details, based on what is bounced back towards them. By changing their frequency, they are also able to interfere with an opponent's senses, and in some cases, their powers. The more air that is inhaled and then screeched out, the more deadly the effect can be, ranging from being able to shatter glass and eardrums, to simply messing with the powers of the target. A downside to this is that in having this power, is that the user cannot direct these calls once they have been sent. They are also very sensitive to sound.

A long, solid twenty seconds passed before anyone was able to make a move to free themselves from the effects of the Trait. Using her ability to Teleport to Wi-Fi-hotspots, Alya was able to jump to a broadcasting tower not far from the group, still in near sight of the Hero squadron. She needed just a second to try to calm her nearly shattered eardrums, but she didn't have the time to waste, not with everyone else still taking fire from this brutal power. She quickly did a scan of the internet for bat creatures and their abilities, looking for something that she might be able to use.

Echolocation, she learned, worked as a method of navigation for bats. By emitting sound-waves from their mouths, and listening for the rebounds, they were able to judge the size, scale, and location of an object. It was the closest thing that Alya could find relating to bats that made sense to her to be the Trait of this giant creature. Looking for more information, she scanned more articles in her brain, getting ready to activate her power. Since they had evolved in dark environments, bats had lost the use of the vast majority of their sight, but it seemed that Slageko had kept his vision.

If that was the case, that meant he wasn't a perfectly adapted bat… That meant that he could have weaknesses a Human still had, and those a bat may still have…

"Either way…" Alya muttered to herself, charging up her Broadband ability around her arms, and converting it into an offensive emission. Wi-Fi signals began to build up around the tanned girl in a black body suit. Setting up her own phones as hotspot devices only boosted this power, giving her even more connections to manipulate.

Wi-Fi, being invisible to the Human eyes, was still a weapon that Alya was used to manipulating. To her, gathering it was no different to Nino gathering water. While she could never see it, she could always feel it, like it was an object that she could clasp onto and hold against her skin. Her body was designed to feel this way around wavelengths, so it was only natural. Refining it, sharpening it almost, until it could be shot right back like Slageko's Echolocation Trait was… Alya took aim as soon as she was satisfied, and began to unleash her powers.

"…I need to stop you from doing that to my friends!" She yelled out loud, thrusting her open palm forward, as if she were using an open palm strike against someone right in front of her. Her strike acted like a spark, firing off the beam like a cannonball.

Concrete and tarmac was ripped apart in the wake of the brutal charge of the destructive Wi-Fi sign, tearing up everything that it came into contact with on its way to the bat-like Human. Realizing that his choices were to remain firing off his disruptive Trait and get hammered into the ground by the escaped girls attack, or dodge and make a counter attack, the choice made itself for him.

Spreading his wings, and tilting himself back upright, Slageko lifted himself into the air and stopped firing his Trait, narrowly escaping the impact of Alya's attack, the lamppost he had used as his perch torn in two by the deadly attack. "Guess I'm lucky echolocation waves and Wi-Fi waves travel on separate frequencies, or I'd be in trouble." He commented to himself. The waves themselves wouldn't intercept, thus, Slageko had the advantage. He had to mobility to attack from multiple directions. He had the capacity to just rebound his attack. Versatility speaking, he held all the advantages.

Free of the incredibly painful Trait, but several members still bleeding from the ear, the group staggered for a few moments, trying to regain their lost senses. A brutal assault on their receptors had been a completely disorientating experience, as well as painful. Several members still felt sick. In spite of his looks, Slageko proved to be a very dangerous member of the kidnapping group.

"You guys go on ahead!" Called Alya from her position, gathering more signals from her wrist mounted phones. Judging from the reaction their opponent had had, she could assume that Slageko, or Fang, whichever one he was going by, was weak to over wave-based emission type Trait users. Or that he was trying to evade her attacks, knowing that he wouldn't be able to withstand one of her attacks.

Regardless, it would mean Adrien and his group would be able to keep going to rescue Chloe.

Having regained his orientation, the blond model snapped his directional gaze to his friend, eyes filled with concern for her, yet pressed by the urgency their very situation presented them with. He didn't have much of a choice other than to leave one of his teammates here to take on Slageko. "Are you sure, Alya?!"

With a comfort granting grin, she nodded towards their team leader. "I can handle flyboy here."

"Interesting…" Slageko commented, landing on the streets not far from Alya. "Fine by me. The others will be more than enough to deal with the rest of you. I'm just here because I'm bored anyway. I'll be more than happy to take you on, one on one."

"I don't like this, Adrien." Max commented, clasping his right ear, still bleeding from his burst eardrum. Teeth were showing as the short boy held in an obvious grunt of pain. He seemed to have taken the most damage out of the group, and Adrien wondered if he would be any use in combat anymore.

"Me neither, but I guess we don't have a choice." The group's leader sighed. "Okay guys, let's keep going. Grab hold of me, and I'll take us over the Seine."

Each member of the group, excluding Alya obviously, grabbed hold of Adrien's arms as the young boy got ready to Teleport the group closer to their targeted location. Looking through his flare-shaped mask, Adrien glanced again to Alya, who was now in a fighting stance ready to engage in a brutal battle against her mysterious opponent. For whatever reason, Adrien felt she was in far greater danger than either of them really knew. It irritated him to have to leave her to fight Slageko alone, but Chloe was the priority. They had to save her first. That's what they were here for, after all.

Part of him wanted to have Alya join the group, and leave someone else to fight… But no. Alya had volunteered. That had to mean that she was confident enough in her abilities to take this guy out. That she felt she had the advantage.

In the end, he just had to trust in her.

"Be careful." He told her, before disappearing, along with the rest of the rescue squad in a puff of smoke, on the other side of the river by now, most likely preparing a strategy to save Chloe with as little bloodshed as possible. Whether or not that would be successful remained to the hands of fate.

"That was the plan." Alya murmured to herself, before re-shifting her eyes onto the bat like person, politely waiting for her to signify she was ready to fight. The Broadband Trait user couldn't decide if that meant he was just a quirky gentleman in personality, or if he was just being cocky and arrogant, that he felt no need to take advantage of a distracted opponent.

"That's nice." He commented, his arms folding, and his wings making a cloak of skin around his body. Bitterness, sarcasm and a sight hint of jealousy seeped through the deeper accent that this Northern European teenager had. "Team leader cares about his underlings. Must be nice."

Not leaving combat stance, and not refraining from gathering the bandwidths and waves that she needed to launch powerful strikes around her palms, Alya could feel that something a bit deeper was going on here. This wasn't a random act of violence, was it, this kidnapping? There was a clear motivation that was driving these people to intentionally and knowingly provoke the CFD students with the explicit intent of causing a fight between the groups… Not to mention, this one flew out alone, in order to attack the group first. What was she to make of this?

"You said that you were bored, didn't you?" She asked, getting no response right away, except for a small nod. "What do you mean by that? Why're you even doing this – In fact, what's even going on here?"

"Curious one, aren't you?" Slageko tilted his head, and allowed a long bundle of his white hair sway behind him. "I thought you CFD students were supposed to be smart."

"What's your problem with the CFD anyway?!"

"And here I thought we were gonna be fighting." He chuckled softly, before he looked at the Hero in training and spoke. "You wouldn't recognize me, but I was at the same orientation day that you were a year ago. You and your little group made the cut, and I didn't, despite having some of the highest test scores in the entire country."

"You… Wanted to attend the CFD?"

"Find me a student in this country who doesn't want to learn how to be a Hero at the CFD." Slageko defended, like he was embarrassed by his previous desire to serve in lessons alongside Alya and their classmates. "I'm not even from this country originally, actually. I'm from Sweden, but I practiced and trained, and even moved here to have a better shot at attending that damn school. I aced every single test – Let me guess, when you saw me you thought something along the lines of 'He doesn't look too intimidating, or smart' right?"

He'd pretty much been right on point when he came to describing himself. Alix had said something akin to that, and Alya had agreed, so she didn't deny the accusations, actually curious to see where this was going.

"Figures. People don't think much of me by my looks. Not really fair, but that's how this world works these days." The mammal-mixture muttered. "I applied for the CFD five times after that, but I kept getting denied. What a joke. So I had to join one of these bullcrap schools with applications still open after orientation sessions. I've been bored out of my freaking skull since last year, and it's pissing me off to no end."

"That's why you kidnapped Chloe?! Boredom?!" A surge of rage ran through Alya's head. As much as her dislike for Chloe held fast and strong, straight up abduction of a student who got into a school that you were jealous that you didn't get into – Out of just boredom?! – This seemed like way too much! Was he just disregarding the fact he would be punished by the law because of this crime?! Or did he just not give a damn?

"In my defense, the others were gonna do it anyway. Thought I may as well kill some time if they're gonna do it. Now – We gonna get to fighting, or what? The Heroes'll be here soon." He unfolded his arms, and licked his lips around his snout. "Let's do this."

* * *

 

"Think Alya will be alright?" Alix asked, glancing back over the river they had just Teleported across from. Leaving their teammate back there to fight alone… It had left a bad feeling in all the group members' stomachs.

Of course, none of their powers would have been of any use if they had stayed behind to help fight. All of them had been crippled by the effects of Slageko's Echolocation Trait, whereas Alya at least had a chance to escape the constantly rebounding waves and launch a counter attack. No matter if they liked it or not, it was the best option for the group from a tactical standpoint.

Not that this knowledge made anything any easier.

The truth of the matter was that honestly, none of them had even the slightest clue how Alya would be able to hold her own against someone like Slageko. Judging by that one attack, he had to be a fairly powerful sort of individual, but did that directly translate to Alya's failure as a fighter against him? She seemed adamant about engaging him alone, most likely due in part to her ability to get out of an Echolocation rebound trap by warping herself to the nearest hotspot.

"She'll be fine." Kim reassured his significantly shorter friend. "Let's have a little faith in Alya's abilities, yeah?"

"Yeah." Adrien nodded in his agreement with Kim firmly, trying to believe it himself. "She'll be fine. We need to find Chloe first, so we can rush back and pick her up before she ends up too tired to fight back." As he said this, he led his group along the riverbank, quickly darting to the line of trees.

From the position that they were in now, they had an overlook of the narrowest point on the small island they were on, with a look towards a small group of recently developed buildings, none more than three stories high. According to Max, this marked the location of which Chloe was being held, inside a warehouse in the center of the cluster.

Teleporting directly inside was out of the question. It'd only lead to them getting caught. So they moved quickly, dashing through the treeline and getting into the cluster as soon as they could so as to avoid detection. As far as they could tell, they hadn't been spotted yet.

As far as they could tell.

"Which one of these buildings was it, Max?" Adrien asked, peering across an intersection for enemies. None of which he was able to see.

"Warehouse on the left at the end of this road." The Analysis Trait user confirmed, pointing down the very same road that he was referring to. The road went on for about another three hundred meters, coming close to a motorized highway. A battle there could result in some major property damage.

Alix and Kim both glanced down the same street, coming to the same conclusions, and making the same observations Adrien was making. Quietly, a sizzling noise could be heard, which fell on deaf ears to everyone but the High Speed Trait user.

"Uh, Kim? Your Lava sweat is leaking."

Kim looked at Alix like she'd just transformed into some sort of demonic creature, like she was an idiot, before he actually looked at his hands. His right hand, the one that had no modifications onto it, was secreting Rhyolite Lava, dripping it onto the floor. Small droplet marks fell around Kim's person where the lava hit the floor.

"What the hell? That's not me! It's doing that on its own!"

"Are you serio – "Before Alix could even finish her statement, High Speed suddenly activated at its highest possible levels, reaching sound speeds within an instant, and catapulting her down the street.

She'd had absolutely no time to react, no time to even realize what was happening to her. With an unawareness that her own power had activated without her knowledge, she was unable to prevent herself from crashing at top speeds into a wall. Her suit protected her from suffering fatal damage, but the shock impact and speed instantly rendered her unconscious.

"Alix!" Adrien yelled out, before he began to look around, knowing that they had been spotted, that someone had done that to Alix, that someone had somehow forced her to activate her Trait against her will.

"One down." From behind?!

Spinning on their heels, the group turned to see a silver hired and silver eyed individual in a red Hero costume standing behind them, with a smug, satisfied grin on his face. His arms folded just underneath his chest muscles, giving the posture that he had been expecting this entire scenario to play out how it had done word for word. Almost like he was a psychic.

"Slageko's dealing with your Wi-Fi friend, and the High Speed one is out. So I've got lava man, analytic, and the dual Trait user left." Another smug grin. "I'm Kyoyu. Or Trigger. Whatever you prefer. I'll be blunt – I don't like you CFE Heroes. My ability allows me to force your own powers to activate, regardless of if you want them to or not."

Vital information to be giving out, Adrien thought to himself. Was he really that confident that he couldn't be beaten?

"Kind of cocky…" Adrien muttered to himself under his breath, although he knew that he was at a disadvantage. Teleporting was his primary Trait. Dual Trait users had two Traits, a Primary and a secondary. The one that activated first was known as the Primary, the second being the Secondary. Adrien's Teleporting powers activated first, so his Teleportation was Primary.

Forced Activated… How would that react with a Dual Trait? If it affected both, then Adrien was at a disadvantage. If it affected only the Primary, again, Adrien was disadvantaged. He could be forcibly Teleported over three miles away at once, leaving him completely useless in the fact of this fight. He could keep jumping back in, but the result would end up being the same. If that were the case…

Could he rely on Kim and Max to be able to deal with this guy on their own?

Forget that, with a power like that, it would actually be difficult to beat him. A Trait that forced someone else to activate their powers against their will? The creative possibilities were endless with that sort of thing. If he had the right mind-set about this, he could possibly wipe out everyone here, never mind just finishing off one member.

"Another tid-bit for you. I'm not alone here." Kyoyu expressed with another grin. "I've got an ally waiting around here to deal with those of you I'm weak against, so think this through. CFD Heroes."

"Good. Because they've got back up too!"

A third voice in the conversation, atop one of the three story buildings in plain sight. With red and black as the outfit, the person in question would be impossible to miss against the grey and blue backdrops of the urban area.

Adrien instantly recognised that voice, and he couldn't stop the grin that spread from ear to ear as he recognised it. Kim and Max looked up in confusion and worry, but Adrien looked up with admiration, and with pride.

Deep down, he'd known she'd show up.

Marinette. Ladybug.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was difficult to write since it officially introduced Slageko and was largely focused on nothing but combat. This Arc is mostly combat, but luckily, after, we get some fluff... Followed by more combat. Trust me, we're in this for a long while. 
> 
> And meanwhile, me, in my INFINITE Wisdom, have decided to toy with a RWBY story, that's basically gonna be Powers but in the RWBYverse, so yeah, overwork here I come! WhiteRose story if any of you are interested - Cause as we all know, The Miraculous Ladybug and RWBY fandoms overlap frequently. 
> 
> Anyway, here's Slageko's profile.
> 
> Slageko Ekko – Due in part of his Vampire bat-like physiology, Slageko tends to be at times, very sociable, but at other times, very quiet and seldom. He possesses a high proficiency in Taekwondo, a leg based martial art, since his legs are far sturdier than his hands, which he required to utilize his wings.
> 
> Slageko is a very laid back individual, only taking part in the kidnapping largely due to his boredom with the school he has chosen. Surprisingly intelligent given his appearance, he signed up to join the CFD multiple times, each time being shot down. Frustrated, he joined in the kidnapping attempt in order to prove he is on par with CFD fighters. He can go between phases of being incredibly talkative, to being very quiet and broody. His power gives him great combat proficiency, but also makes him afraid of noises that are too sudden and loud. He seems to enjoy hanging upside down like a bat.
> 
> His Hero name is Fang


	21. Survival Of The Fittest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Ladybug's appearance, the group should be able to fight off the kidnapper Kyoyu.... Right?

Wearing a Hero Costume in a heavily crowded area was a very, very good method of making people get the hell out of your way. The Heroes were there to defend the people, to fight in the name of justice, and uphold the peace. The civilians of the world all agreed on one universal rule when it came to seeing a Hero moving through the streets – If you see them, and they’re in a rush, you get the holy hell out of their way.

This knowledge made it very easy for Marinette, Juleka and Rose to avoid having to deal with huge crowds of people as they ran like crazy to reach a Hero Report Centre. These establishments were set up in multiple locations around the major cities of the world, so civilians would be able to report any incidents that they felt needed to be investigated by a Hero or relevant authorities. They were like Police Stations specifically for Heroes.

As Adrien had pointed out, just calling one of them up and explaining the situation wasn’t going to be a very safe option, on the chance the kidnappers had some sort of system in place to inform them of if they had reported the crime. A Hearing Trait or some sort of hacking program – Whatever the chances, no matter how low they were, they weren’t worth taking. Not when Chloe was being held by a group they knew nothing about, and couldn’t predict their actions. Caution had to be used here.

Granted, the illegal use of their Hero Costumes and Traits was going to get them punished, no question… But it wasn’t like they really could care at this point.

Because none of them were official Heroes, taking action against crime and Villainous acts were counted as acts of Vigilantism, and the use of Hero Costumes went under forgery and job fraud.

But they were in training to become Heroes. They might have hated Chloe, but no one in the Hero Course was prepared to just abandon her. She might be a pain in the neck at all times, and everyone wanted her to just shut up – But she was a classmates. No one would just leave her for dead.

Even Marinette.

“Turn the next corner! Left!” The blue haired girl heard Juleka call out from behind her. They had made their way to a crossroads that seemed to be dealing with the usual Parisian Rush hour, people going to and from work.

As they approached at their highest speeds, the crowds of people began to move aside, to get out of the way of the, what they perceived to be the professional, albeit young, Heroes, rushing off to fight whatever injustices were calling them out to battle against. Marinette skidded against the tarmac as she came to a running halt, before she pushed forward and began to keep running again. The speed at which she was moving was picking up, rapidly, as the managed to charge ahead of the two other classmates she was supposed to be running to the station with as a group, in order to have better chances if they were attacked.

That was all an act on Marinette’s part though. Saying that she couldn’t care less what happened to Chloe, an act. While she despised the blonde haired snob with her entire being, she wouldn’t just leave her behind for dead. That wasn’t the sort of person that she was. Even if Chloe did really deserve it at times, and as tempting as it was to just let her get the punishment that she was, quite frankly, due. Chloe was a classmate, and was training to become a Hero just like the rest of them.

She deserved to get her comeuppance, yes… But she didn’t deserve this. 

Saying that she did… That was to throw people off Marinette’s trail. Make her the least likely suspect when Ladybug suddenly showed up to save Chloe. It was an outright lie. One to make people less likely to think it was her.

Rose and Juleka were capable fighters in their own right, and they looked after one another very well. They’d be fine if Marinette suddenly disappeared. Solid Shadow Strike and Cryokinesis were powerful Traits, and they knew how to use them with exceptional skill. The Heroes-in-Training Snowflake and Dusk were more than capable of handling any threats that came their way.

With this knowledge in mind, Marinette raced on ahead, leaving her allies behind to reach the Hero Report Centre on their own. She needed a darkened alleyway of some description to change from her Hero Costume into her Ladybug outfit.

* * *

 

Kyoyu looked up at Ladybug with a raised eyebrow, his other eye hidden by the hair that ran down from his fringe. He knew of the Vigilante that was going around, dealing with Villains and fighting crime throughout the entire city on a fairly regular basis, alongside the other one known as Chat Noir, but the question that needed to be asked now was what she was doing here.

It seemed awfully suspicious to him that this Vigilante was here, just right when the CFD students might seem like they needed back up against him and his ally. He didn’t care how quick this girl was, there was no way that she was going to have been able to figure out a damn thing regarding this entire adventure if she hadn’t explicitly been informed.

So that meant that the CFD students had lied. That they had told someone about the kidnapping. Kyoyu felt his jaw tighten. That didn’t bode well for his group, but that aside, he was just pissed off. Irritated that they really had been this stupid.

“Thought we told you not to inform anyone, Heroes?” The silver haired Forced-Activation Trait user asked with an accusatory tone to the CFD students. His voice had a hint of anger to it. If that was because he hadn’t been taken seriously, and they’d just ignored the warning they’d given them, or the fact they had informed a Vigilante of all people to come and fight their battle for them, as opposed to an actual Hero, was unclear.

“They didn’t.” Ladybug declared from her perch above them all. “I came on my own.” Of course, it was technically both a lie and the truth. The CFD students hadn’t told anyone outside of one another, the only exceptions being Rose and Juleka pretty soon. She had come here because she had known that this was where the fight was going to take place. She had made the choice to come here alone. So in a way, she was both telling the truth and lying simultaneously.

Looking at them, the accuser was able to see that between them, there did seem to be a variety of surprised expressions. Excluding Alix, who was unconscious right now, Kim and Max seemed to display an odd mixture of disbelief and almost fear, combined with that of excitement and admiration. The media had depicted Ladybug as a ruthless savage who beat down anyone who got in her way, but at the same time, this was the sort of thing that they trained for – Dangerous situations and people. 

While it was no secret that Ladybug had a few supporters, it was pretty rare, and unlikely, that she had a lot of them within the Hero industry. Alya had jumped on the bandwagon and proven to be a very dedicated supporter, and Mylene had confessed that she thought Ladybug was a good person, so the two teenagers had very mixed feelings when it came to the masked blue haired Vigilante.

Adrien on the other hand was just smirking.

“Forgive me for the bluntness, you illegal Hero, but I find that pretty hard to believe, considering my guys have all been pretty quiet about this, and we told no one by these CFD snobs.” Kyoyu spat. “So they either told you, or –“

Without warning, Adrien suddenly Teleported next to the kidnapper, his left hand already charcoal from activating Destruction. The way this conversation was headed wasn’t good. If he allowed this French-Japanese teenager to continue thinking, he could start to piece together that Ladybug was a CFD student herself, and if that happened, Marinette was at more risk of discovery.

That wasn’t something he was prepared to let happen. No way in hell.

“Enough talking!” He yelled, making a swing for Kyoyu’s head with as much speed as he could manage. “You’ve kidnapped by friend, so where the hell is she?!”

Managing to duck the attack, Kyoyu jumped back, to get some distance from Adrien, or at least out of arms reach. He recognised the danger that the Dual Trait user posed to him if he got too close…

But with a Trait like Kyoyu’s, that Dual Trait turned into a weakness for Adrien.

No sooner had Kyoyu blinked, that Adrien had completely disappeared into a puff of smoke.

“Well, that’s gotten rid of him.” He grinned. It really was a simple battle to win, especially against a Teleporter. Kyoyu didn’t even need to use any tricks, or combination moves. All he had to do was activate his own Trait, and Teleporters would he thrown into a random location anywhere within their distance radius. It made it impossible for them to fight him in a battle, as long as he knew where they were coming from. And with his ally around, he would know exactly when and where the Teleporter would strike from.

“Adrien!” Kim called out in surprise.

“I got rid of him.” Kyoyu told the remaining fighters. “Forced Activation is a Trait that lets me activate your Traits just by me blinking and willing it – With Dual Trait users, I can make them activate whatever the hell I want them to. Your buddy having a Teleportation ability was just his bad luck.” He grinned suddenly, his long hair covering up his right eye, and half of his left. “I do wonder where he ended up though. Maybe he wound up on a highway, and got hit by a truck.”

In that exact moment though, Kyoyu felt the alteration of molecules, thanks to the transference equipment given to him by  Kankaku, and aided by the latter’s superpower. With this equipment attacked to the Hero costume he wore, he was able to detect any slight changes in the area around him – Just like Kakaku was able to.

This equipment in hand, he felt the molecules alter, and bring Adrien Agreste back into the surrounding area. Of course, this was a weakness to his power. Teleporters could only be moved into areas within their radius, and he had no control of where they wound up. So a Teleporter would be able to just keep jumping back towards him, until they gave up. It worked mostly as a stalling tactic, and not much else, unless he got lucky, and the Teleporter got hit by a car or something.

“Right here!” Adrien yelled, launching another strike towards Kyoyu. This time, he tried for a spinning kick, relying on the momentum of gravity to bring him into contact with his target. It didn’t work at all, since he was just blinked out of existence yet again, this time, onto a motorway.

As the exchange between them had continued, and as Adrien began his rapid succession of Teleports to avoid getting run down by a truck, Ladybug made her move in on the silver haired boy, throwing herself at him with an open palmed strike. Hand to hand combat wasn’t usually her go-to with this sort of thing, but with Atomic Duplication, what could this guy really force her to duplicate? He couldn’t do much of anything to her, unless he knew who she was, and then he would be able to plan a counter attack appropriately, but he didn’t. Hand to hand seemed like the best way to deal with this guy. Use her Trait as little as possible while around her classmates. Give them as few ideas about who she might be as possible.

Despite his appearance not giving the impression, Kyoyu was fast on the reaction, sidestepping quickly, and grabbing the outreached arm from underneath, and spinning around, so it came around his neck. Shifting his body weight into his waist, he slammed it into Ladybug’s, and swept with his feet, throwing her completely off her balance, and onto the ground with absolute ease.

“Aaaarh!” The Vigilante let out a cry of pain as quickly, by applying high pressure to her wrist, Kyoyu was able to send incredible burst of pain by twisting her wrist, and sparking particular joints in her wrist with sharp pains.

“Get away from her!” Adrien poofed back into the alleyway, this time launching a running charge with his right hand pulled in, ready to unleash a punch when he got in close, Destruction activated as per usual.

 Detecting a change in the air, Kyoyu let go of Ladybug’s wrist, and turned to face Adrien, once again dodging out of his way, and ducking to the right this time, as the punch came in. Grabbing his combat vest, Kyoyu slammed two side-strikes into Adrien’s right breastplate, pushing all of his surprisingly heavy mass right into the strike, making sure to avoid touching Adrien’s atom destroying arms. The swing had been more than enough to knock Adrien onto his back with the strike, Kyoyu’s arms acting like a stopping force.

“Leave him alone!” Ladybug managed to cough, with blood running from her lips. The previous attack had caused some internal bleeding, the pure force this angler type Trait user had in his martial arts style was nothing to snuff at, evidently. He had some deceptively prominent muscles on him, and he was well co-ordinated when using his bare hands in combat.

“Not likely.” Uncaring of the Vigilante’s demands, while his target was on the ground and motionless for the time being on the ground, Kyoyu active Forced Activation, sending a now injured Adrien to God knew where. With luck, his injuries would prove to keep him away from the battlefield, at least for a while.

Another shift triggered Kyoyu to shift his head about fifty degrees to his right, to see Kim with a handful of pooled Lava in his right palm, and lunging towards his enemy. Now that they were all attacking the kidnapper at once, all with deadly intent, they thought they could outman him with force.

“Hyaa!” A grunt of excursion came as Kyoyu skimmed the lava attack and threw his arms around Kim’s neck, and pulled him over his shoulder, throwing him about seven meters aside. Feeling yet another movement in his surroundings, Kyoyu leaped back, just narrowly escaping a sweeping strike from Ladybug, not giving up quite yet.

What the silver eyed teenager knew was that he was a very good fighter. Hand to hand combat was what he made up in for his Traits lacklustre combat capabilities. He knew he had to rely heavily on his creativity and intelligence when it came to his superpower, and his own physical conditioning and skill when it came to fighting up close and personally. It was why he had studied Aikido so intensively for such situations such as these. He could take on multiple opponents at once, but it would wear him down.

Despite his hatred for the CFD students, he knew that they were very skilled, and all possessed dangerous Traits. Taking them on alone wasn’t going to work very well, even if Kankaku had given him the equipment to help him. He needed direct help.

“Kankaku, I’m gonna need your actual help now!” He grunted, taking a deep breath as he recomposed himself.

“About time. I was getting bored waiting.”

Max’s eyes begun to shift through their numerous colours as he scanned the area again, trying to figure out where this unseen assailant was. So far, he had been unsuccessful, due to the limits of what knowledge he had about the area and the attackers he was dealing with. His Trait was powerful, no doubt, but it required him to know at least a moderate amount about the area he was working with.

Movement in one of the buildings, and a very loud yell, was what gave away his enemy.

“Building at the crossroads, due west, third floor, and charging for the window!”

As soon as he was finished speaking, the aforementioned window he had mentioned had been completely shattered, revealing a teenage male Primal, with a slop of spiky red hair and blue eyes, bursting through like n action hero. He landed, rolled, and wound up stood next to his ally.

Like all Primals, he possessed refined muscles, although this didn’t means he had earned them. Default Primal structure was heavily muscular, so he may not have ever exercised in his life, yet he had the perfect body for combat. The markings up his arms were a mixture of zig-zags and curves that went around his arm like rings. Excluding his Primal markings, he didn’t seem to have any other visual quirks.

“Heh, can’t keep up with them for much longer?” He asked Kyoyu, showing off his teeth, revealing that his teeth were where he hid his visual Trait. Every other one of his teeth was sharp, and the ones between those were blunt, giving his mouth a combination of carnivorous and omnivorous teeth.

“You’re the one leading this excursion. You can help.” Kyoyu responded flatly. “The Effect Transmitter you gave me is holding up well enough, just don’t get too far away from me, or we’re gonna struggle.”

“Roger that.” The Primal responded.

“Guys, be careful!” Max warned his teammates, relaying the information he had been able to pick up on. “They’re using an Effect Transmitter to give them a battlefield advantage!” 

“Do you know what the Primal is capable of?” Ladybug asked, managing to stand onto her feet and prepare herself to keep up the fight. Wiping the crimson liquid from her mouth, she assured herself that Adrien was going to be okay. Right now, she needed to be focusing on keeping her classmates alive and well.

“The Primal has a power that lets him detect movements in the air! He’s sending out signal beams that are invisible to the naked eye in order to detect any changes in his environment as though they were physical changes to his person!”

Kankaku Hoki – Primality – Infrared - Kankaku lets out a set of infrared beams from his body, that can be used to detect changed and movements in the surroundings. These beams are invisible to the naked eye, and only the user is able to pick up on them. They can detect through smoke and in pitch blackness, essentially giving the user sight at all times. A downside to this Power is that it cannot be turned off, even if the user wants it to be switched off. This Power is permanently activated, and cannot be deactivated under any conventional circumstances.

A power that allowed it’s user to detect changes in the environment… And of course, it had to go to a Primal. Physical prowess surpassing a Human’s with ease, a Primal with the ability to detect alterations in the environment was a deadly combination. Not to mention the irritation of the Effect Transmitter.

Certain Traits and superpowers would be able to be transmitted, and given to other people with the user of this device. It was able to copy the original user’s presence, and release a similar effect to that or the original to any user who had it – It was rare that they were used though. Very rare. Not a lot of powers were compatible with such a device. No combat based powers, nor information or travel types. Infrared was one of the rare ones that could be simulated.

Both of their opponents were working with the ability to see virtually a full three-hundred-sixty degrees around them, in addition to physical powers that easily surpassed an average Human, Forced Activation, and a skilled martial arts user.

Ladybug grunted. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight to win.

But if they wanted to get through to Chloe, they didn’t have much of a choice.

“Kim, Max, do you think you’ll be able to help me fight these two?”

Both the CFD students glanced at one another. The two friends showed a mixture of concern for one another, and a degree of faith that they held in one another’s capabilities was evident in their expressions. The question of how Ladybug knew their names would have to wait.

“Yeah. We got your back.” Kim nodded, generating more lava into his left gauntlet. “Max, take care of Alix, okay? Give us logistics when you can. If Alix is feeling up to it when she wakes up, we’re gonna need her to beat these guys down.”

“Understood.” Max nodded, making his way towards their still knocked out companion.

“How noble.” Kakaku smirked. “Just a shame it’s not gonna help much.”

* * *

 

“Oww… Damn it, that guy’s got some moves…”

Adrien clutched the impact area where Kyoyu had struck him for a ruthless strike. That Forced Activation Trait was dangerous, far more than someone would expect at first glance. He was able to use Adrien’s Teleporting power against him, keeping him out of the fight, and dealing with his teammates when he was away. Though where Adrien was Teleported seemed random, he’s nearly gotten hit by a truck thanks to the second one, the first one hadn’t been too bad, only setting him over to a streetlamp.

The final one had thrown him back to the other side of the Seine, although he was objectively closer to where Max had said Chloe was being held. Now it was just across the river, but he needed a moment to consider the options that he was working with. As well as recover a bit of his health.

His breastplate had taken a strong pair of strikes, and was sending up flares of agony right into his chest. Nothing was broken, at least it didn’t feel like it was, but holy hell, was it going to bruise. It went to show that Kyoyu wasn’t someone that close-range was going to work against. He required a long range combatant to take him out. A long range combatant that they didn’t have. Alya was still fighting that bat Human person where they had left her, and she wasn’t going to be able to get over to help the team any time soon, most likely.

Along with that, it seemed like Adrien wasn’t going to be of much use against Kyoyu. It seemed improbably that with his hand-to-hand skill that easily surpassed the blond Dual Trait users, Adrien would just get in the way.

Taking off his mask, and rubbing his eyes, Adrien sighed. “Damn it… These guys thought this through.” What concerned him was that so far, they had only run into two or three of the attackers, and that five members were involved in the kidnapping, meaning that at least two more people who had powerful abilities still had to be contended with.

Another thing to think about was the fact that Marinette had transformed into Ladybug, and had abandoned her original goal of reporting the incident to the relevant authorities. While he knew Rose and Juleka were more than capable of looking after themselves, he still was concerned about them. The CFD students desperately needed Hero support, of that there couldn’t be any sort of question, and if those two couldn’t report the incident, then they were basically screwed.

CFD students were supposed to be the best of the best, and while yes, they certainly had the most practice and some of the best education in the entire country, it didn’t really amount to much without the experience. Adrien and Marinette, they had the experience needed when fighting Villains and people who knew how to use their powers for deadly purposes, but the rest of their classmates didn’t. This was their first real look at the world of Heroes past the TV screen and the comic books. Their first real taste of danger, and of having superpowers used against you with the intent to kill or maim.

He worried for his classmates abilities to withstand such pressure. It was a scary experience until you just developed the immunity to it, and gained the fight-or-flight instinct. Until that moment arrived, no matter how brave a face someone put on, they would be terrified. It was natural to be so.

He thought back to Ladybug. His Lady. The Vigilante who he fought alongside. The girl he was in love with. That Hero.

He knew he had to have faith in her. She was brave, she knew how to fight, and she would defend their classmates until her last breath. Adrien wouldn’t expect anything less from her.

So, what should his own plan be?....

It was possible, he though, that the majority of the kidnappers were now distracted with the battles that were occurring around the place. If they were, then he could possibly sneak into the place they were holding Chloe, get her out, and Teleport her away from danger before anyone else got hurt. They could then fall back to the CFD, and defend the place until the Heroes arrived and took care of things from there.

As he reattached his mask, he stood upright, ignoring the pain on his chest. He wasn’t about to give up just like that. It might hurt like crazy, but… “This is the job of a Hero, after all…”

Adrien made his way to the water’s edge, looking at the same building Max had said Chloe was being held. Being about maybe two hundred meters away from himself, he could Teleport to the roof and figure out a plan of attack from there…

He looked at the water’s surface. Calm, a bit murky, sure, but it was calm. Not like the situation that they faced right now. This was a rare part of the Seine that didn’t seem to have much trash either, just the occasional newspaper blown in by the wind, shark fins, and old aluminium cans –

Wait a second. Shark fins?!

The blond Hero in training stared blankly at the fins, moving within the water, headed towards him. They were moving slowly, and the actions didn’t really seem like that of an actual aquatic king of the ocean. These seemed a bit more sluggish… Slow… And almost… Abnormal.

As soon as that thought made its way into Adrien’s head, the fins rose, and attached to them, Adrien saw that this was now shark at all. This was a person, with these fins as a part of their anatomy. The person in question looked rather terrifying in all honest, with a set of gills slit into the neck, the fins, and a set of teeth that were serrated and sharp enough to easily slice through meat. They looked sharp enough to give Flesich’s Meat Grinder Primality a run for its money.

It wasn’t until the person stood at around knee height in the water that Adrien recognised that they were in a Hero costume. Quite frankly, it looked dull and unimpressive, only a blue swimsuit with a red line down the centre, designed to make swimming sleeker from what Adrien could tell.

“You’re a CFD student, right?” The shark person questioned, stepping out of the water. The snout that this person had as opposed to much of a face was lowered, so Adrien could see they were glaring at him. This person looked like a Humanoid shark – That was the only way to describe him. “Adrien Agreste. I’m Requin, Hero name Predator. You’re aiming to save your blonde classmate, right?”

Revealing himself as a kidnapper, Adrien gritted his teeth sharply, realizing he was in for a fight with this guy. He could Teleport away from him, but no, this guy would just radio his buddies. Instead of deciding to run, Adrien instead aimed to get as much information out of this guy as he could before he made his run to save his childhood friend.

“Where the hell is Chloe?!  I swear, if you’ve laid a hand on her – “

“Your friend is fine. Moved from her previous location, but fine.” The shark-man assured him, before showing off a set of sharp fingers. “I’d be a bit more worried about yourself.”

Requin was a very blunt and straightforward kind of person, not particularly wasting any of his words from what Adrien could tell. He was being as forward as someone could get.

“Tell me something, do you believe in the ‘Survival-Of-The-Fittest’?” Requin asked, now standing upon the pavement, and circling around Adrien, keeping eye contact with the Parisian at all times. From his accent, Adrien was able to tell that Requin had grown up in Paris. His use of language was on point, perfect, and he wasn’t at all struggling. “The philosophy of those who are born weak must either become strong, or die weak, with no other purpose than making the strong stronger. Do you believe that our society should bend to this rule?”

“No. I don’t.” Adrien flatly refused the idea outright. “In nature, maybe… But we’re civilized. We don’t live like that. The weak are the foundation for the strong, and they can become strong in themselves. That’s what I’m trying to do.” Adrien shook his head suddenly. “Stop trying to distract me. I want Chloe. Let her go!” ”

“We Abnormals do.” Requin explained, ignoring the demand from his enemy and going into his own rantings. “Our Abnormality’s are something we are born with, and unlike you Humans, we can pass our powers onto our offspring, ensuring our exact genes are passed down to the future generations. But in order to make our species stronger, we have no use for the weak.” Suddenly, the Abnormal stopped in his tracks. Not moving. Not even breathing. “This girl was weak enough, and stupid enough, to let herself get captured. From what I’ve heard of her, she’s so vain and self-important that she doesn’t even acknowledge it as her own fault. Essentially, a lost cause. Something I do not understand about you Humans – Why on Earth would you want someone like that still in your gene pool, holding your kind back?”

“She’s my friend, that’s why.” Adrien responded without any hesitation whatsoever.

“You pick odd friends then.” Requin sighed. He bore his shark-like teeth, and got into a fighting stance. “No use putting this off any longer. Time to show you the terrors of the deep.”

Requin  Genblanc – Abnormality – Great-White Shark – Requin’s Abnormality gives him all the adaptations and enhancements to that of a Great-White shark , including  thick skin, acute sense of smell, very sharp teeth, strong biting power, the ability to breathe and swim quickly underwater, and grants him the levels of strength that a Great-White has. Requin also has a number of sturdy fins that are located on his back, forearms, and one atop his head. This physical quirks also aid him in swimming, making him more streamline and fast while underwater. In order to help with breathing underwater, the user also has a set of gills that are located on the neck. However, a drawback is that this power is very easily dehydrated, and this can affect Requin’s ability to perform. As such, fire based powers are very effective against this Abnormality.

Adrien got into a fighting stance of his own, ready to intercept any attacks that he had to from this shark Abnormal. The two of them exchanged silent glares and glances at one another, both of them trying to figure out exactly what it was that was making the other tick, observing any weak points that may exist in the other targets defences.

Requin made the first move, suddenly charging at Adrien at an incredible speed, utilizing the strength that his Abnormality gave him in full. He managed to close the ten meter gap between the two in less than a second, and was already launching a back handed strike towards the Human boy’s neck.

Reflexes in check however, Adrien was able to Teleport behind and above Requin, and launched a spinning back kick to the closest area to the vertebrae on the Abnormal. With the thick skin he had, and the inhumane anatomy, Adrien just took a guess, and unleashed a brutal strike, landing just below one of the dorsal fins of his attacker.

The move didn’t do much, however, and Requin didn’t even seem phased by it. Instead, he quickly turned himself on his heels, and slashed at Adrien with his sharp claws, with were only deflected by the armour the young Hero wore as part of his costume. They managed to deflect the attack, but Adrien could feel the impact – Like a truck. A Great White Shark was capable of outputting nearly two tons of power into a bite, and that energy translated into physical movement, meant that Requin could output a huge level of physical prowess in addition to his multiple other abilities.

Quickly, Adrien Teleported backwards, attempting to get his bearings, but as soon as he rematerialized, he was able to see the aquatic Abnormal already aiming for him, this time with a left jab aimed at the head. A range finder, Adrien recognized, a technique used for determining how far away an opponent was, and how for the next attack would have to travel to hit said target. It allowed the user to then close said distance for a more impactful strike.

“Rrryah!”

Moving with deliberate care, Adrien evaded the strike, and grabbed hold of Requin’s arm, and Teleported them both about fifty feet in the air, and falling fast, onto the pavement they were just fighting on.

“Woooooah!”

As soon as he had Teleported them up, with equal speed, Adrien Teleported back onto the pavement, and watched from a distance as the Abnormal plummeted into the pavement. The impact send up a huge cloud of debris, and the shockwaves could be felt for a fifty meter radius, one for each foot high Requin had fallen. Shark adaptations or not, that wouldn’t help him much against the force that was gravity.

But it wasn’t even close to enough to so much as scratch Requin.

As soon as he had appeared from the Seine, the shark teenager leaped out of the dust cloud with every one of his teeth showing, claws primed, and bloodlust now frenzied.

Ducking away from the attack, Adrien leaned in, and unleashed a flurry of punches onto the jawline of his opponent, none of which did even the slightest thing towards knocking out his enemy. The Thick Skin Abnormality was proving to be a strong defensive layer, withstanding and absorbing any of the kinetic impact that Adrien’s attacks, no matter what they were, had. He was like a pincushion.

And a ruthless Predator.

Like a shark, Requin had a ruthless streak, and he had a method of fighting that suited him best – And that was to use whatever he could to win a battle. He had no qualms about doing whatever it was he had to do to win a match, regardless of how dirty a trick he had to play.

With Adrien so close, Requin saw an opportunity to inflict some very harsh, very dangerous damage to Adrien. And he took it.

Jaw unhinged, he then lunged forward, and chomped down with absolutely crushing force onto Adrien’s right shoulder blade and breast. Teeth designed to never let a target go pierced Adrien’s considerably thinner skin, and sunk into his flesh almost instantly. It wasn’t enough force to kill, or to rip off Adrien’s limb, but it was more than enough force to cause serious, permanent damage.

“Aaaaaargh!!!” Adrien screamed in agony at the sheer level of pain he was experiencing. Over a hundred sharp teeth devised into three rows in the Abnormal’s mouth slashed their way into the young model’s shoulder, and across his right breast plate. The more Adrien struggled, the larger the slices on his person, but if he didn’t resist, the deeper these teeth would sink in. “Get-off-me!”

Adrien attempted a few pathetic attempts at punching the Abnormal’s gills, remembering that as a way to make a shark back down when in a fight, but it didn’t do anything. His own strength was fading fast, and Requin could process oxygen in the air as well as in the water, meaning his air supply wasn’t being cut off.

Another attempt didn’t make a difference either. Teleporting wouldn’t work, because Requin’s teeth were sunk in so deep, Adrien wouldn’t be able to just Teleport himself.

There was one thing he could do…

Today was the anniversary of his mother’s death. The anniversary of the day he had killed her by complete accident. The day he refused to even activate Destruction on. The one day a year he refused to even so much as activate that disgusting power….

He’d already broken that rule today, in a fit of rage originally, and just a few moments ago against Kyoyu. He had justified it to himself by saying that he wouldn’t actually hurt anyone with these powers, that he would use them as sparingly as possible, and try to avoid kill-shots. That he’d had to fake them. To save Chloe.

But right now… If he used Destruction, he wouldn’t be faking an attack. He wouldn’t be feinting anything. Requin’s jaw was sinking into his flesh, and if he didn’t do something right now, it could result in the real loss of his limb. It could seriously kill him.

But if he used Destruction now…

On this day, of all days, it would be like he was spitting in the face of his mother’s grave, breaking the promise he made to her, wherever she was, that he wouldn’t be so irresponsible with his powers.

But what choice did he have?...

He felt the destructive force run up his left arm, feeling the dark colour that coated his limb creep up and into his veins, making him sick to his stomach about his own power. He gritted his teeth, in two parts, one at the throbbing pain, and the other at the desire not to throw up. _‘Sorry, mother…’_ He silently said in his head. 

“I said… Get….Off of me!” He yelled, slamming his fist straight under Requin’s jawline, mustering the absolute rest of his physical power he had left or one life saving strike. For a second, nothing seemed to happen.

And the next, Adrien could feel blood dripping down his arm. The Thick Skin had been disintegrated, and now exposed some of the muscle that Requin’s abnormality gave him in his jawline. It was a huge amount, and with Destruction activated on it, it quickly was reduced to dust.

The spread of the power Adrien wielded quickly spread to parts of Requin’s face and chest, leaving a crack-like pattern wherever it went, destroying his skin down to the atomic level from the living being.

Incredibly painful.

“Gaaagh!” Requin’s mouth, though still full of Adrien’s blood, erupted with pain. As a flinch reaction to get away from the deadly Trait, he pulled away, splattering the blood from his opponent all over the Parisian street-line.

The muscle tissue in his jawline was exposed to the wind, which painfully blew against it. Red blood dripped from his chest and his mouth, the two mixing together on the ground. As a shark Abnormal, Adrien’s blood wouldn’t have a negative effect on Requin, since he had the ability to remain immune to any infections, diseases, or even just illnesses that Adrien might happen to be carrying from blood transmission. Even so though, the Parisian’s blood was still on Requin’s teeth, something he didn’t appreciate, and attempted to spit out.

Adrien on the other hand, was in a far, far worse state. Deep gashes and cuts now covered the right side of his upper torso, now drenched with his own blood. His Hero Costume’s vest had been ripped apart, and now was absorbing a large amount of blood into it, making the dark grey article of clothing damp black. There was no question – If Adrien survived this battle, they would scar, permanently. He was just lucky he hadn’t lost his arm in the process.

Throbbing pains shot through his right arm though, making it painful to even send a signal down to his fingers. Blood ran all the way down it, to the point where there was barely even any skin visible. The teenager was already starting to feel dizzy, unable to stand up straight for half of the time after the experience.

“You… Bastard!” Requin spat, clutching his wounds as tightly as he could.

“Me?... You’re the ones who started this…” Adrien defended himself, although his words were slurred, and he wasn’t anywhere near as loud or vocal as Requin was. He lacked the capability to use up so much energy in just conversing. “You speak like… I enjoy using… Like… Like I like using my Destruction Trait… I hate – I hate it… We just… We didn’t… We only want Chloe back…”

A few deep breaths were taken by both sides, trying to come to grips with the pain they were under. Adrien fell to his knees, and clutched his right shoulder blade as tightly as he could, unable to stand up on two legs anymore.

“You…. You’re weak.” The Shark Abnormal mocked. Though he took a few deep breaths himself, he stood up tall, not showing any signs that he was weakening much more than this. “You’re far weaker than I am…”

“What difference does that make?” Adrien questioned through gritted teeth.

“Your CFD… They accept only the strongest. The best of the best. The elite of all of France… Well, I just took you down, didn’t I? So that means I’m stronger than you…. Which means… I’m better than you…”

Not bothering to interrupt, Adrien just let his enemy keep talking. Truth being told, he lacked the energy to do anything else in this moment. Blood loss was depleting him of that luxury.

“So If I’m better than you… That makes me strong. I’m strong. I’m at the top of the food chain! Which means I survive! Survival of the fittest! If you’re strong, you survive, aim higher, achieve more!... So why… In the hell, did they accept you into their bastard school and not me if I’m stronger than you?!”

Through ragged breathing more, Adrien felt a sudden surge of anger pool in the pits of his stomach. He lacked energy to do much, but he was certainly feeling the motivation to pick himself back up and clobber this scumbag, no matter how much blood he had lost.

“What?...” He grunted, voice wavering, but strength slowly returning to him. At this point, it was an adrenaline kick, filling his body with a small burst of power. “You… You’re telling me that you and your group has done all of this… Out of God damn jealousy?!”

Requin spat and then let out a low growl of anger and frustration. “The weak don’t deserve to stand at the top! I refuse to be one of the weak ones, damn it! You CFD Heroes… You’re at the top, and it pisses me off that you think you’re the best of the best… You’ve already lost to me… That’s just proof that you aren’t up to par with someone like me. Where’s the justice in that?”

Adrien suddenly began to laugh, an action that surprised even himself. Perhaps it was from the blood loss, and perhaps he was slightly delirious, but all the same, he stood back on his own two feet, and laughed, unable to stop himself. “Ha! What a load of garbage! The only reason you’re even doing any of this is because you’re all a bunch of sore losers!”

“What was that?!”

“The CFD doesn’t just judge raw power! Personality, ethics, mental stability… The things you do, the things you say… the way you act… Everything is taken into consideration, not just pure power!...” Adrien had to laugh again. “Haven’t you ever even paid the slightest bit of attention to how the selection process works? Heroes aren’t just pure power! That’s not how our society works!”

“And yet, you’re still on your last legs. By my hands. That shows how well Human society works, doesn’t it?”

“Me? Nope.” Adrien suddenly found himself with his Chat Noir grin on his face. The throbbing pain his arm sent out numbed itself thanks to the adrenaline rush. Instincts would have screamed at Adrien to run, but right now, he was in the zone. Angry, determined, and combat-ready. “My right arms gone… But I’m not finished fighting you quite yet, buddy. You kidnapped my friend because you were jealous – That’s all that this is.” Destruction suddenly activated on his left arm again, and this time, he felt no sickness. “So I’m going to beat you down until you get the hell out of the way.” 

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a long time - I'm not abandoning this story, don't worry. I just had other stuff I wanted to focus on for a while, but I'm back now, and will be updating this wherever I can ^_^ Thank's for all being so patient and understanding. I've finally got all the ideas for this story sorted, so now it's just a case of getting them written down ^_^ 
> 
> I got a lotta comments saying that forced Activation was a pretty lame power.... No. I don't think it is. I have big plans for that Trait, don't worry about it, guys ;) 
> 
> And now, for the bio of another member of the kidnapping five : Kankaku this time.
> 
> Kankaku Hoki – Kankaku is a Primal, and therefore, tends to be rather violent and enjoys the actions he takes when kidnapping a CFD student. He is also very skilled in mixed martial arts, excelling Krav Maga – A form of self-defence that includes kicks and punches designed for street combat. He is able to use this effectively due to his Infrared Primality.
> 
> Kankaku seems to have a disliking towards the rich, picking a target that he knows is wealthy, and eagerly leading the capture of the individual. He also seems to enjoy fighting, as he often laughs and grins when in combat. Outside of this, he is rather arrogant, believing himself to be the best hand-to-hand fighter in Paris. In doing so, he has established himself as the group’s leader, and is very adamant about taking on CFD students, without considering the hypocrisy or consequences of his actions.
> 
> His Hero name is Sensor


	22. Push Back

The weak make up the foundation for the strong. That was true. Adrien had known this his entire life. The weak acted like the glue to the world, supporting it, and holding it upright and running. The people who worked every day in their life, had families, and kept society moving along the roads of science and discovery. This was an undeniable truth, especially in their world of Traits.

Some were born with incredible powers, capable of destroying entire cities, and bringing whole nations to their knees. Some were born with mundane ones that barely did anything, hardly even able to light a flame to hold a candle to some of the strong of the world. Traits, Primality's, Abnormality's, all random in their origins and genetic makeup, meaning that what someone was wound down to chance.

It really was just that simple.

Most of the world was weak. It was just how things are.

But without those weak people, the strong wouldn't be strong. Instead, they'd be normal. But their foundation worked a lot more complexly than that. Heroes needed the weak to survive, and the weak needed Heroes to do the same. Without one, the other couldn't exist. This was the binary relationship Heroes had with civilians, the main reason the occupation was able to sustain itself.

In a sense, the weak were the strongest of everyone. They controlled nearly everything, ordering the strong to do what they wanted. Almost like a zookeeper telling a lion who to attack, what to do, whom to rip apart, and what the leave alone. Like trained animals.

Adrien knew all of this… Because he was weak.

He knew he was weak. The weak held up the strong… But Adrien didn't want to be weak. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to be able to be a Hero, in order to protect the weak and make up for the horrible things he had done as a child, no matter how long it took. A Hero always walked a bloody path, and Adrien knew all of this perfectly well. He was under no illusions as to the true nature of the job of being a Hero.

He knew it all because he was Chat Noir, helplessly in love with one of the strongest people he would ever know in his life, the Vigilante Ladybug, his classmate Marinette, whom he desperately wanted to be like. To prove that he could be that strong. Strong like Ladybug.

He knew all of this because he was so impatient to become strong he donned a mask of a Vigilante himself, and suffered a burn attack from Sunstreak, and got himself beaten down about five times since he became Chat Noir. Despite everything he did, despite all he tried over these past ten years, he knew what he was, what he would always be u, until he could truly learn to be a Hero, to be like Ladybug. He knew that he was weak…

The shark-like bite marks that now covered the upper right of his torso, the wounds that leaked out his crimson blood, and would scar him until they day he was put in the ground, dead and buried, would always remind him of that.

He was weak. So pathetically weak.

And he needed to be strong.

* * *

For maybe the seventieth time throughout this fight, Alya found herself with her back to the wall, with no real way to get away from the incoming Echolocation Trait that would soon rip apart her eardrums. Being in this situation so many times in the last ten minutes, and she had come up with a very easy solution to the problem that she faced.

That solution was to find a way to get the hell out of the way of the attack. It wasn't much, but it was what Alya had in mind when it came to getting out of this terrible situation. She'd done the same technique maybe thirty times, and it was turning the neighbourhood she was battling Slageko in into a destroyed battleground, but it was keeping her, and anyone else that the screeches that he unleashed, perfectly safe.

Alya, since her power relied on her understanding wavelengths, had a limited ability to sense changes and detections in all sorts of situations. Mostly she was able to do this by detecting changes in her Wi-Fi signals around her, but with Echolocation, it was a bit different. Bat signals, for some reason, didn't seem affected by, or to affect in any way internet wavelengths, but Alya could still sense the incoming attacks. Maybe she just had some sort of quirk that let her detect any and all changes in any type wavelength. Maybe it was something else. She didn't know, but what she did know was that with the scream the bat-Human had unleashed just a second ago, and the bumps on her skin that indicated where the attack would be coming from, Alya just knew, where to strike, how hard, and how much area she needed to cover.

She was thankful her phones acted as hotspots. Slageko had caught onto her power quickly, and had gone out of his way to destroy communication towers in their immediate area. Luckily for the Broadband Trait user, that wasn't an issue thanks to her equipment.

Gathering up the signals in the palms of her hands, she unleashed a huge burst of internet energy into the ground at just the right moment, which caused an eruption underneath her hands. A crater formed, and all the debris and gravel, muck and dirt went flying in front of her, like a grenade had just exploded not ten feet away from her. It covered her in yet more dirt, but the objects deflected the signal, redirecting the attack elsewhere. Echolocation worked by the sound bouncing off objects and back to the sender. Slageko seemed smart enough to relocate whenever his Trait was used, so he wouldn't feel any recoil, but Alya being able to defend herself form the attack was more than enough to keep her in the fight.

At least, it should have been. Constant fighting, brutal battle strategies, and a ruthless assailant… Alya had underestimated him, and that was saying something. She'd been fully aware of just how dangerous this guy was when she volunteered to stay behind and to fight on, but here he was, surpassing even those already high expectations.

"You doing alright?" Slageko asked, with a voice that seemed to show actual concern for his opponent. He was perched atop a building nearby, his wings folded in, to appear less threatening. "You look like you just got dragged through a hedge made out of razor wire and glass."

The Broadband Trait user had taken a heavy beating, there wasn't any question. Her Hero costume, consisting of a black jumpsuit, had a huge number of tears in it, and her face was covered in dirt and dried up blood, left there to harden and catch dirt while she kept dancing around the combat zone in this fight. One of her eyes was shut tightly after an impact that had caught her eye – It wasn't damaged or broken or anything like that, but keeping it closed brought some comfort to the tanned girl. This person barely even looked like Alya Cesair anymore. This person looked like they'd just fought their way through a crowd of twenty people with nothing but their fists and forehead.

Normally Alya would make a witty remark and joke around about how battered she had been, but this time, she didn't even hesitate to raise her hand and send an explosive barrage of Wi-Fi signals straight for the kidnapper. Slageko moved out of the way instantly, but the damage Alya's Trait caused ripped apart the roof of the building he had been stood upon, leaving a hole and a tear in the tiling and building altogether.

With skill and knowledge like Alya had, her Wi-Fi Trait was ruthless. Dangerous. Like a refined explosion that could tear down a building.

"Take that as a yes then." The Swedish Human commented bluntly. "You've got a pretty interesting Trait, y'know? Manipulation of Wi-Fi wavelengths in this day and age is a pretty useful power. Especially if you can refine them into something that powerful. I'd guess it's giving you the ability to detect small changes in the Wi-Fi around you, sort of like Wavelength Telepathy, which is how you're dodging my powers. Gotta admit, I'm impressed."

"Didn't you want to be a Hero?" Alya asked through sharp intakes of breath between her teeth. This guy, Slageko, seemed to be something else than what Alya was used to dealing with. The guy actually seemed fairly nice when you spent some time around him, checking up on her every time she seemed to be struggling, and asking her questions, even complimenting her.

She didn't get it. At all.

"Indeed. Still do."

"Then tell me… What's Heroic about this entire thing? Why kidnap Chloe? What makes you think any of this is Heroic?"

"Boredom." Slageko responded flatly. "Didn't I tell you this already? When you have an IQ of about one-hundred-eighty-five, I need a hell of a lot stimulation to entertain me. Rather be here than reading more freaking textbooks about stuff I already –"

"If you're that smart, then you have to know there's no way that any Hero school will accept you after you've done this! If you want to be a hero, then why are you even doing this? You don't even seem like a kidnapper under the circumstances… I just don't get it. Why are you doing this?"

The Echolocation Trait user looked at the Broadband Trait user with an emotion on his face that Alya couldn't describe, due to his bat physiology. The closest she was able to infer it as was most likely irritation, like he'd been caught out on something he hadn't wanted to be. Like she'd figured out something about him that he didn't like other people knowing about him, at least not right now. Maybe pride was what was making him feel that way. Alya didn't think even he knew.

The sharp fangs that characterized his teeth showed as he growled a bit, before answering. "I applied to your school five times. Failed every time, despite perfect test scores. Five times, five perfect scores, every time. Doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. I'm combat capable, perfect test scores – That's not arrogance, I just know I'm good at what I do. And for whatever reason, your school didn't accept me. That's pretty much the same story for all of us. We all tried to get into the CFD, and we all failed."

Alya's eyes narrowed as she considered in her head, was this entire kidnapping down to something as pathetic as jealousy? Was that seriously how petty these Feuer students were? Prepared to break the law, to commit these hideous acts just to enact some sort of sick, bitter revenge?

"Let me guess what you're thinking. _'Man, these students' are sore losers and jealous bastards. They're such sore losers that they're willing to go against their beliefs to get some revenge'. How can they be so stupid to think they'll get away with this?'"_ As he saw the reaction that Alya gave as he essentially read her mind, word for word, he grinned at the clear confusion Alya had. It was honestly somewhat unsettling, like he was completely aware of the hypocrisy of his own actions, but it appeared that he just didn't give a damn. "Close, right?"

"Pretty much spot on."

"Well, let me assure you – We're not idiots. We've thought this through." Slageko did the closest thing to a smirk that someone of his appearance could probably do. "We're all pretty aware that we're gonna get punished for this, that we're gonna end up in some deep shit before this is all over, but think about it – We defeat a bunch of CFD students, what sort of moron would throw us in jail? They wouldn't be able to hold us, and they risk us turning into Villains by doing that, and if we can take out you guys, then it's in their best interests to have us taught at the best places possible."

It was a ploy to achieve Reformed Education. In a world packed with superpowers, and Villain numbers always on the rise, along with the potential for criminal activity, it was generally accepted that simple prison time wasn't going to cut it for a huge number of criminals, and was thus reserved for the already hardened of subjects, many of which were sentenced for life. For the vast majority however, Reformed Education had come into effect, to attempt to teach the lesser criminals, to reform them, to teach them right from wrong, and give them another chance at surviving the world outside those metallic bars and holding cells.

The CFD was a supporter of this system, but never actually took part in it, choosing to protect the students that they already had and focus on their studies, rather than diverting resources to aiding criminal recoverees. Yet there hadn't been an incident like this before, but all the same, the plan was inherently preposterous.

"You think this'll help you get into the CFD?!" Alya almost burst out laughing at the terrible logic being used here. The idea that a school would accept people who assaulted their students was hilarious and inane. If the law was that fickle, then there wasn't going to be a single day where a student wasn't assaulted in the hopes of it winding them in reformed education.

"I never said the CFD." Slageko smiled again. "Oxford Hero Academy. The Ultimate Hero School. Hell, I'll bet the Rekksoran's School would be pretty interested in a group like us. Especially one who is being led by a Primal like Kankaku."

Now Alya understood what this was. It was them trying to prove them wrong. The CFD wrong. To shame them and their name, to prove that their pupils had been chosen poorly, to humiliate the name of the number one Hero School in all of France. It wasn't an attempt to join them, but rather, an attempt to make them ashamed to stand by their school.

It was them just being bitter still, but they'd thought about a way to get away with it. With Reformed Education being such a common practice in Europe, it seemed likely that a school somewhere would accept them. If they proved a threat to even the CFD… The only two schools that could possible manage it would be Oxford and The Ultimate Hero School over in Japan.

It wasn't a plan to just humiliate them. It was a plan to surpass them. This was just a small lashing out before they went for higher places. At least, that's what they planned.

It was dumb, and it was pathetic… But the chances for it to succeed were way too high for Alya's liking. But that wasn't important. It sure as hell didn't matter if they found themselves in a place they really didn't deserve to be in, that some people spent years trying to get into, only to be turned down. All that mattered right now was making sure Chloe was okay. That was what they had come here to do.

Trying her hardest, Alya attempted to collect the wavelengths of the internet round her, only to find that her stamina was far too low to allow her to gather up her powers in any sort of capacity, try as she might, she yielded no results. She was utterly exhausted from constant battling and brawling, and she was totally out of energy to do anything at all.

"Looks like you're running on empty." Slageko commented. "Kinda disappointing, I wanted to see a bit more of how your Trait works. It impressed me. Lemme make this clear now – This isn't personal, at all. It matters to me that you know this. Just gotta do what I gotta do." As he spoke, his arms and wings rose, as he prepared to finish off his opponent, and the fight, once and for all.

He never got the chance before he felt something wet, something liquid slowly trickle by his feet. The sudden moisture surprised the Echolocation Trait user, who jumped back slightly, before recognizing it as the substance that it was.

"What the - Water?"

No sooner had this realization been made than what could only be described as a prison of water suddenly enwrapped itself around the bat-like Human, totally subduing the creature with lay after layer of tightly packed liquid. On the inside of this watery prison, there was a sizable breathing space, making the waterous layers around the creature merely containers that couldn't be destroyed by Human hands.

For a second, Alya sat there, gazed, and Slageko looked at her, before he began trying to fire off his Echolocation Trait in an effort to escape, despite the fact that he must have known it was pointless to try to do so.

It took Alya about ten seconds to figure out what was happening, and when she did, she let out a happy sigh and allowed herself to relax. "You took your time getting here, Nino."

Hearing his name being called out, the dark skinned boy of Moroccan ancestry took a step out with a smug grin on his face. He wore his Hero costume just like Alya had, only his was more loosely done up, since he had clearly been in a panic and moving to go. His costume consisted of what looked like a flak jacket, with red and blue gloves and a storage tank on his back, revealing him as far stronger physically than his appearance led on. "Girl, you've got like, no idea how totally lucky we are these guys brought Chloe next to the Seine. Don't think I'd be able to contain this guy if I didn't have this much liquid to work with."

The Broadband Trait user grinned at his response, and looked back at Slageko, who couldn't be heard at all, yet he as throwing his fists at the water, only for them to bounce right back off, like he was punching glass. "He gonna be a problem anymore?"

"Nah, don't sweat. I've compacted the water molecules so closely together that it's almost like rock. This batty boy isn't going anywhere." As Nino explained this to Alya in a relaxed manner, the water sphere began to hover just a few beet above the ground, and hovered right above the river Seine. After a Nod from Nino, like the sphere was a sentient creature, it chose a spot, where it slowly submerged itself beneath the water's surface. "He's still got his air bubble. Figured you wouldn't really want to have to look at him after the fight you just went through."

"Uh, is he gonna be okay?"

"Long as I stay within the area, yeah, he'll be cool." The Hydrokinetic boy said with a grunt as he sat next to Alya in the pile of rubble they found themselves in.

Silence fell between the two, the quiet after the storm had ended. It was a welcome thing for Alya to finally enjoy, to catch her breath, and to look around at the totally devastated neighborhood that she had spent the last, what, ten, twenty, thirty minutes fighting in? She couldn't remember how long she'd been fighting here for, but she did know it had been long enough to totally wipe out the current street and a few houses nearby. Thankfully, anyone who had been inside had had the common sense to get the hell out when the superpowers started flying.

"Came as soon as you guys left." Nino explained his reasoning for being there without prompting, like he was thinking that she was just sat there, expecting some sort of explanation without ever asking one. "I know Adrien said we should stay at the school, but… I couldn't just stay while you guys were out fighting, y'know? It's just… Not cool."

"How chivalrous of you." Alya joked, lightly punching his shoulder. "Don't think I coulda beaten that dude without your help. Thanks, Nino."

"You're the one who weakened him and kept him busy long enough for me to move all that water. Moving about three tons of the stuff takes time, and all I didn't was imprison him…" The teenager said, before he wound up laying on his back, letting his limp body slap against the ground. "Tiring too… My prison should hold up as long as I'm in the area… So if I fall asleep, don't like, worry about it. He's not gonna escape. I'm exhausted after moving all that water…" A pause. "What Trait did that guy even have?"

"Said his power was called Echolocation."

"Does that work under water?"

For a brief moment, Alya's brown eyes flashed Magenta, and then back to normal. The side effect of her body mentally searching the internet. "According to a ton of different sites, no. Dolphins use it, but they're better adapted for it. You saw the guy, he was part bat. Doesn't work for those guys underwater. If you packed the molecules like you said, all he'd get was an instant feedback loop."

Relaxation returned to Nino's face as he sighed and closed his eyes. "Good… Hey, know where the rest of the guys are at?"

"I think they're still fighting up ahead. I stayed back to keep this guy busy."

"Should we go help them?"

"Can you move water while holding that guy?"

"Yeah... But if I get too far away from him, or take too many hits, then I'm not gonna be able to."

Alya looked to her hand, lined with cuts and bruises from the fight. "I think I'm totally out of the fight. Can't concentrate any Wi-Fi anymore, at least for now. My be at my limit. And if you let that guy out..." She sighed, and laid back onto the ground herself. "I think we're better off waiting here until the Pro's arrive."

"So just chillax? Works for me." Nino let out a long, relaxed sigh. He didn't have even a shred of worry regarding the team that was going after Chloe, since he had total faith in the group that was headed out. He knew Adrien very well, and knew that he would be totally capable of succeeding against their enemies, whomever they happened to be.

* * *

Movement detected towards the right side, from the infrared rays in his corresponding arm, and Kankaku rotated his body to face the incoming pursuer, the Lava Trait user. The Primal made a quick jolting with his legs, skipping backwards about an inch, out of the way of a Lava-pooled fist, before bringing his back leg, which was his right one, forward for a powerful roundhouse kick, now that his targets head was slightly lower.

Combined with his own species natural superhuman levels of strength, and his own extreme fitness, even by Primal standards, Kankaku was able to send Kim flying back with his kick, well off the floor, and back into the ground without any difficulty whatsoever. It was in his coding, and pride as a member of his species, to go all out in each strike he unleashed.

"Stay down if you want this to end quickly!" He roared with a grin on his face.

In response to the counter attack that he had initiated, Ladybug threw her yo-yo towards the Primal and his Human companion, aiming to tie them both up together and end the match as quickly as possible, so they could do find Adrien and then rescue Chloe as soon as they could. Using her Atomic Duplication Trait, Ladybug extended the cord to an absurd levels, yet allowing it to retain that same level of durability that the flexible metallic cord always had.

Once it was within range of him however, Kankaku simply grabbed the cord and yanked on it with all his strength, not only stopping the yo-yo from going any further and destroying any possibility that it had of ensnaring its targets.

"Damn it!" The Vigilante grunted as she tugged on her weapon as much as she could to re-acquire it. She was putting in every single joule of energy that her body could produce to try and regain the yo-yo, but it didn't seem to do anything.

Kankaku seemed to look at the small device while holding onto it casually, inspecting it for some sort of trick or secret that he could use. His Primal nature meant that he barley even felt the young Parisian girl trying to rip it from his grasp. "What even is this? A metallic yo-yo? This what the feared Vigilante of Paris uses as a weapon?..." He grinned at the device in his hands in a mocking way, showing just a few of his carnivorous teeth, hiding his omnivorous ones.

"Just get on with it." Kyoyu told him, preparing a fighting stance with which to counter attack anyone who charged for him. He was aware of his Primal companion's nature, how he would drag out things for as long as possible out of some bizarre desire for the pleasure he derived from such actions.

"You like to ruin fun, don't you?" The Primal grunted, but complied. With a quick tensing of his grip muscles, he applied a huge amount of pressure onto the Yo-yo. It didn't matter that it was refined with steel and diamonds, it shattered just as quickly as anything else did, crushing in to the palm of this violent Infrared Primality User. "So much for your equipment, Ladybug." He taunted, before tossing the destroyed item aside.

It didn't make a huge amount of difference to Ladybug. Marinette could very easily go to any corner store and buy about twenty for a couple of Euros, so it wasn't that big a deal. At worst, it would kill a few hours for her as she re-applied everything and repainted it. Ladybug's teeth gritted now, however, because it was inconvenient for her to now escape the area once she was done, and to trap these two bastards. A lot of her materials were inside that yo-yo, now crushed into a steel casing that she wouldn't be able to pry open.

Using his power, Max was able to inspect the yo-yo and the equipment that their enemies were using. Crush beyond all solvability. Primal power levels by default were incredible, allowing them to easily crush even metals like steel, iron, and others without any difficulty. It was like each Primal had super strength. It made their lack of powerful Primality's a pretty good consolation prize.

Still, Max was scanning the device that his Human companion was using. He was able to easily read that he device helped replicate the power the Primal had, allowing the Forced Activation Trait user to feel the same effects of having Infrared rays throughout his body. If he could be taken out, or at least his device, then it was possible, and just a little bit more viable, that he could be taken out.

Furthermore, Alix was going to come out of her unconscious state very soon, with little more than a minor concussion, which was good news. Knowing her, she'd probably hop to her feet and continue the fight if it wasn't finished by the time that she awoke, which wouldn't be ideal for her.

But… She might be the best chance for the group to defeat these two. High Speed would render Infrared totally irrelevant… But Alix using it after suffering a concussion could lead to her dealing with far more serious injuries. This wasn't a situation he felt like putting his classmate in, so again, his eyes flashed along the coloured spectrum, looking around for anything, something, whatever, anything that could give them a slight advantage over their opponents.

Watching their movements, the way that they struck out, and which parts of them were the most vulnerable… They were covering for one another in certain aspects… There was a certain degree of self-teaching in these movements…

That was it!

"Kim, are you alright?!" The Analysis Trait user questioned, calling over to the impact crater where his athletic friend had landed, not far from him.

"Damn…" Kim managed to stand up again, despite the sores and pain he was under, having taken a huge number of beatings from the Primal and Human. Numbers didn't mean a damn thing to these two. They had two very versatile abilities for this sort of situation. He watched as Ladybug clashed with the two of them, doing what little she could to distract the two of them as he got back over to her, and ready to fight again. "Yeah, I'm alright, Max." He grunted as he lifted up his left arm, Hero costume modifications still loaded with his secreted lava which was starting to become heavy. "I'm starting to think our best chances are to just hold out until the Heroes show up. These guys're good."

"I've discovered a weakness in their formation!" Max quickly explained to a suddenly very interested Kim. In spite of the strain on his body, he moved over to Max and knelt down to hear what he had to say clearer. "You have approximately one-point-six litres of lava in your two litre storage container, which roughly translates to four-point-three kilograms in mass. Using the pin on your storage tank, you can release this concentration of liquid in one large burst, correct?"

"Yeah." The Lava trait user nodded, showing the location of the pin. It was located on the gauntlets bracer, near the exit port, closer to his hand than it was his elbow. In order to reach it, he had to reach over the tank and then rip it out, where it would explode out of his tank thanks to devices in the gauntlet that pushed it out with force, a little bit like a syringe that was designed to push out the liquid as quickly as possible.

"There is a crucial flaw with the Primality of Infrared." Max told Kim while he watched Kankaku throw Ladybug over his head into a wall, which she quickly got herself freed from. "That power is constantly activated, but always picks up all movements, meaning, while they always have three-hundred-sixty-degree vision, they cannot tell what exactly is interfering with their power."

"How does that help us?"

"Your lava." The dark skinned boy tapped the hot tanker with his knuckles. "If they pick up the lava due to you firing it in a non-lethal direction, you will trigger all of their rays at once, leaving them essentially blind, which will be your chance to take out the one with The Effect Transmitter, leaving us on an advantageous position!"

It made sense. By triggering all the points at once, they wouldn't be able to tell where the threat was going to come from, and even if they could, it wouldn't be able to help them much, since they would already have been attacked, or they would be fatally wounded by the lava from Kim's Trait! Like a flashbang grenade for infrared rays.

"Leave your tank here." The Analysis Trait user ordered. "I'll launch the attack with that. Doing this should also add on the benefit of you having increased speed due to the lower levels of mass added onto your person."

That was the only part of this plan Kim disliked. "Max, that's way too dangerous!"

"The danger is very small in comparison to the end result. We must – "

"My body is resistant to lava like that, man, yours isn't! If it gets you, it'll char you!"

"I'm aware." Max said, with a small gulp. "We don't have time to debate this. We're Heroes-In-Training. This is… Part of the job." He gave a very small smile to reassure Kim, though it was as empty as a smile could possibly be. He was more than aware that in the likely even that his hand caught onto some of the lava, he'd be left with a permanent scar. But he was willing to do this anyway, in order to help achieve victory.

To Max, it was what little he could do to help his friends.

And deep down, Kim knew too, that unless it was Max to unleash this attack, which their current plan could fall into absolute disarray. Regardless of if he liked it or not, he knew that this was the most logical of plans for right now.

This was all for Chloe. This was what their entire fight was for. They were Heroes-In-Training.

It was what they were training for.

"…For God's sake, pal, be careful!" Kim demanded, before he ran to a flanking position. As he prepared to charge, he built up a pool of lava in his hands, which dripped onto the surface below him. If Max was going to get burned, that Forced Activation scumbag was gonna get it too.

Sweat ran down Max's brow as he prepared himself, equipping the heavy device onto his left arm, and standing upright, after moving Alix into a safer position. He stood up, and briefly looked at the fighting that was taking place in front of him. Ladybug was currently fighting like a cornered animal, doing whatever she could to stay out of reach of the two attackers. She'd take swipes where she could, but was mostly focused on not adding to her current injuries.

To Max, Vigilantes were dangerous. He knew them only sociopathic lunatics that the media depicted them as, people who had mental issues and wanted the fame and glory enough to literally endanger hundreds of lives in order to achieve that goal. People who had no regard for real Heroes. People who had just so little care for anyone, excluding themselves of course.

And yet, here he was, about to save Ladybug, one of the most famous Vigilantes in Paris at the current time.

And here she was, trying to help them all save Chloe.

He couldn't help but smile. The world was a weird place.

Then, he charged towards the battlefield, steeling himself for the intense pain he knew that he would be unable to avoid.

Max wasn't a physically capable individual, not even close to someone like Kim's level, and even keeping this just over one and a half litre gauntlet of lava was like him trying to lift up a car. He kept moving though, until he was in the best position.

Fifteen-point-seven meters. Kim's device was best suited for a wide range, but in closer range combat, so it had a maximum range of about twenty meters. Ladybug had just been kicked into a wall about twenty-four meters away, while the Human and Primal enemies were about fifteen meters away. This was the best chance he had.

Suddenly, the Primal turned around, having detected Max coming in. "Behind us, Kyoyu, watch I – "

Max reached over and, letting out a scream of pain the second he did so, tore the pin off, unleashing an unholy tidal wave of lava upon the opposing Hero Academy students, and, as feared, suffered the pain from his plan along his left arm. "Aaaaaaaaaaarh!"

For a brief moment, Kankaku and Kyoyu just watched the basalt lava spew towards them, as deadly liquid shot towards them like a bullet. It was just less than a second of hesitation as they saw this incoming attack, before their reflexes finally kicked in and both of them quickly split, Kankaku to the left, Kyoyu to the right, to evade this surge of an attack.

They both managed to make it to cover, but this wasn't the end of the issues they would face. As the lava crashed down onto the ground, and sloshed around the surface of the tarmac, before setting the entire thing on fire like a sea of flame. Ladybug had managed to get out of the way of the attack by duplicating enough atoms to give herself a podium of which to jump off of.

While neither of them were attacked, the Effect Transmitter, as well as Kankaku's Primality, were totally shut down, as neither of them were able to make any sort of detections due to the sheer level of heat, smoke, and flame surrounding them. The two were essentially defenceless. Kyoyu in particular swore, damning the Analysis CFD student under his breath, while preparing a fighting stance.

It didn't do him even the slightest bit of good.

Enraged by what had had to happen to Max, Kim charged straight for Kyoyu, Lava in hand, and a battle-cry in his lungs. Without his ability to detect any movement for the smoke and flame, quickly, Kyoyu tore off his Effect Transmitter from his chest and, using it as an improvised weapon, attempted to swing it forwards the Vietnam descendent, to little user.

Lava broke the transmitter, and scorched Kyoyu's skin around his wrist, and some onto his chest. Kim had toned it down massively so it wouldn't kill his enemy, no matter how much he wished he could.

But it still burned. And holy hell, did it burn.

"Aaaaaaagh!" Kyoyu yelled out in absolute agony, before kicking Kim straight in the chest with as much force as he could muster, even that causing him such a huge amount of pain that he cried out in pain again. "Fuuuuuck! Kankaku – I – Aargh - I gotta bail!"

"Move, I'll hold back these rick punks!" The Primal commanded.

He hadn't even finished his sentence before Kyoyu was halfway down the next street, making an escape as quickly as he could. With his injuries, he wasn't going to be of any use whatsoever regarding the battle anymore. Teeth gritted down hard, he limped away, clutching his wounds as tightly as he could.

"Hold it right there!"

Kim suddenly heard the commanding cry around him of someone far older than anyone here, and looked for its source, which he found to be the rooftops. He nearly fell to his knees in relief and gratitude, when he saw who had finally arrived.

The Heroes of Paris. All shapes, sizes, and from different walks of their own respective paths. A large number of them, called in to help fight off these kidnappers, to help the battle end. There had to be at least ten of them, all with different alterations to their bodies, all wearing costumes, and every single one of them ready to raise absolute hell and fury onto their enemies.

"Heroes?!" Kankaku spat, looking at all the professionals surrounding them. "You… you CFD bastards! We told you not to inform any of the officials!"

"Like we'd do a damn thing that you told us to!" Kim laughed back.

It was a very brief struggle to contain Kankaku. While he fought off as many of the Heroes as he could, only really knocking one back, he was quickly subdued with the use of Trait that ceased his muscles functionality. He was left paralysed and unable to move, no matter how much he tried.

This surprised Kim for a brief moment, feeling like he'd seen a Trait like this before… Until he realized, and his face fell into one of absolute fear. "Oh crap…"

"So how many times am I going to have to inform you students of how risky this sort of endeavour is?!" Her voice shot through Kim's heart like a knife. Ms. Mendeleiv. The Primal suddenly being paralyzed was due to her Trait, wasn't it? "How stupid are you all?!"

"Ms…" Angry for just a moment that the strictest teacher in all of the CFD was about to start chastising the group for doing the right damn thing in this situation, Kim started, but he didn't bother trying to deny or justify anything when he saw her.

He saw the look on her face, the one behind those sharp reprimands and yelling. The worry, concern that she had for her pupils couldn't be clearer. The real worry that her pupils had gotten themselves hurt…

Through his own gritted teeth, Max groaned out in agony while clutching his left hand, blood seeping down his arm from boiled skin. Heroes who had medical capabilities rushed over to him, doing whatever they could, while someone helped Alix from her position, removing her helmet as applying treatment where they could.

The injuries of students who had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into… Were the injuries that would always haunt medical Heroes in this world.

Watching as her students were tended to, their teacher swore under her breath with gritted teeth. "Don't think there won't be punishments to be faced when this is all over." Ms. Mendeleiv told Kim as clearly as possible. "This sort of action… It's the kind of thing that end your career before it even begins."

"Ms, we had a good reason…"

"Save it. I already know about Chloe. The ones who stayed behind told me. How do you think I got here?" She sighed after her sharp comment towards her student and looked towards him. "Much as I'd like to dish out disciplinary action, the Principle will decide the punishment that you'll all have to suffer. Right now, we need to focus on helping the wounded."

Kim nodded in his agreement of the issue, understanding that right now, Max and Alix needed more serious medical attention than he needed to justify his actions. As he moved to help though, he couldn't help overhearing that Kyoyu and Ladybug had gotten away. To where, he had no idea. That wasn't his current task though.

So, he didn't bother mentioning that he'd seen where Ladybug had gotten to.

* * *

"Move out of my freaking way!"

Another left handed slug smacked Requin in his jaw, now coated and soaked in the mixed blood of his own, and of Adrien's, each strike hitting like a truck to the Shark Abnormal. Each one of them was packed with so more force and precision that he hadn't been able to make any meaningful counter attackers.

The back and forward slug-out between the two of them had gone on for at least several minutes at this point, and Adrien was, despite his now none-functioning right arm, putting up a very good fight. Strike after strike, kick after kick, and attack after attack was winning him this brutal brawl with the Shark Abnormal. All he needed to do was keep up this pace, and he'd be the victor of the battle in little to no time at all.

While his opponent had started out with a huge advantage, now that his jaw had been injured heavily due to Adrien's Destruction Trait, his ability to apply grave injuries to the French teenager was now limited. Now that Adrien didn't have to worry about the Shark's jaws chomping down on his body, he was able to throw whatever moves or techniques that he needed to, with a lack of worry for whatever openings he would give.

Of course, Requin had managed to get some good whacks in too. Adrien was pretty sure that the few he'd gotten to his face were going to show bruises for a while, but that didn't matter to him too much. They would heal. He had more pressing matters to worry about. To be honest, he barely even felt the pain anymore. His brain was releasing adrenaline and a painkiller effect, so he was numb to the physical ails of his condition.

Right now, all he was focused on was battering this guy into the next oblivion.

"Damn it!" The kidnapper launched a reverse hook attack, aiming for the jugular of the Agreste boy, now just throwing attacks around the place without any real precision or meaning towards his targets. He was just, in a word, flailing, hoping to hit with a random throw.

It made him predictable. And very weak.

With one swift Teleportation, Adrien found himself next to the Abnormal, with his arm around the general area that a neck would be located, and one foot behind Requin. With a heavy shove, Adrien sent what energy he could transfer into his heavy opponent, using his own foot as a way to trip over the Abnormal, sending him flying backwards into the ground.

"You're done!" He yelled, slamming the Abnormal into the ground with a heavy throw. As much as he could went into pushing this Abnormal into the ground with as much force as he could muster up in him.

The impact sent ripples throughout the ground, and caused both parties involved to cough up blood, the shark more than the Human. While Adrien was panting heavily, and felt his bones weaken, he claimed the victory in the matter, having completely clobbered the every loving crap out of the Shark Abnormal, who now laid unconscious by his feet.

For a moment, Adrien stood still, atop Requin with a grin on his face, satisfied with his victory. While his body had taken a disturbing level of damage, he had won. In addition to his bitten right arm, and the bruises and marks from the punches he had taken, his Destruction Trait's drawback had taken effect in his left, skin peeling from his body, like a potato cutter. His breathing was ragged and erratic, not remaining in a consistent pattern for too long. In addition to that, sweat ran down his body like he'd been into a pool and jumped right out. His mask had a few tears, ad did the rest of his Hero costume, but he was still standing.

He was the winner.

And he couldn't stop himself from laughing a little bit.

He had won.

"Adrien Agreste?" He hear a voice, a familiar voice, in more than a single way from behind him. It didn't take him long at all to figure out who it was, even without looking at the person.

"Ladybug, right?" The young Hero-In-Training guessed, his smile growing all the larger with her presence there.

"Your classmates are alright. The Heroes have arrived to save them, though a few of them are... Injured... Oh my God, what happened to you?!" The female Vigilante gasped in horror as she saw the horrific injuries suffered by her crush.

Adrien looked down at his opponent and chuckled lightly. "You got anything to tie this guy up?"

* * *

"Kankaku's been captured, Requin's AWOL, and Slageko hasn't reported in?"

"That's the situation, yeah."

"Fuck." Crystal swore with vigour as she slammed her rocky fist into the nearest wall.

It was an empty warehouse for the most part, bar Chloe Bourgeois tied up in a chair in the centre of the room, occupied only with a single light. She had remained unharmed, as the kidnappers had always intended. Threats or not, they never intended to injure Chloe, despite how much Kankaku suggested that a finger wasn't going to be too bad if it was crushed or snapped. It would heal.

With three out of their forces of five now rendered inoperable, Kyoyu and Crystal found themselves between a rock and a hard place, with next to no alternative options for escape. They had practically cornered themselves into a bad situation, where they would either have to surrender, and let the Heroes capture them, or try to escape. Despite knowing they weren't going to get away, both the remaining kidnappers felt a need to try to hold out for as long as possible. They'd fought for this long, they might as well keep going.

Using her Trait, Crystal barricaded the doors with a refined mineral of crystal, reinforcing it so it would last a lot longer. Aside from this, there was barely anything that they could do to prepare for the inevitable attack that would fall upon them like a hell-fire.

They were against professional Heroes. This wasn't going to end well for them. Their plan was to achieve Reformed Education, of course, but that didn't mean that it was going to be a particularly fun, or enjoyable experience to acquire it. And there wasn't a guarantee of that, either.

It was a flawed plan, but the best they had been able to come up with, given the circumstances.

"Guess it isn't gonna get much better than that." Kyoyu muttered, hissing in pain as he clutched his charred skin, black and almost rocky in texture now. "Rrrgh…" He tapped a trap door underneath his foot with said anatomical part. "Last chance for escape is down here. It'll throw us into the water… Place musta been used as a dumping ground or something, but we'll be able to swim into the Seine and see how we fare."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

Crystal twisted her neck, and the following cracks and crinkled echoes in the warehouse as she did so when she turned to face Chloe, a look of disgust and anger in what constituted her eyes. "You can shut it, you spoiled brat."

"I did warn you my daddy would send the Heroes after you, even if you told my classmates not to." The rich child grinned from ear to ear in smugness and self-gratification. "You should probably listen to people who know better than you."

Kyoyu grunted, and sat down by a wall, nursing his wounds. These marks would be permanent, he already knew, and he wasn't handling it well. He was enraged beyond all previous comprehensions. Suddenly, becoming a Hero seemed totally irrelevant to him. The plan didn't matter to him, and even his own escape from this building today didn't matter. He wanted blood. Revenge. Not just against the Lava Trait bastard, but every member of the CFD.

He wanted to get even for the permanent scarring of his body, now more than ever.

Tilting her head to look at the Forced Activation Trait user, Chloe looked at his wounds, inspecting them closely. "Those… They look like they're from Kim. Lava?" She then laughed. "You couldn't even beat that loser? You really must be pathetic."

"And you got yourself kidnapped without even putting up a fight. Shows how good at this you are."

"Something I don't get about you." Crystal walked over towards Chloe, making a face of absolute disgust towards the blonde girl with blue eyes. "You act like a total bitch to everyone, treat everyone like shit, and you're training to be a Hero. Doesn't make even the slightest bit of sense to me. Heroes usually become Heroes because they want to help people, but all I'm seeing is self-service from you."

"None of your business."

"I don't know why your classmates even bothered to come help you." Kyoyu muttered. "They made it pretty clear they really don't even like you."

"Maybe they're just smarter than you. Not that it takes much."

This having been all she'd heard all day, and now on the verge of defeat, was what caused Crystal to snap. She didn't give a damn anymore, she was going to get in one good slug into this Chloe bitch before she lost to the professionals.

"God I fucking hate you!" She yelled, before throwing a first straight for Chloe's face.

Chloe just smirked.

The second Crystal's hand touches Chloe's face, Chloe's Trait activated.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out writing five stories at once makes it very difficult to keep on top of everything - I'm trying my best, damn it! But here's another chapter in the Kidnapping Arc. This has been quite the experience for me, and one I'm glad to have written - but it's not quite finished yet. I have a few plans left for this arc, and there are still some plot points that will be covered, but for now, I'm fairly satisfied with who this arc is going ^_^ I'm looking forward to getting the next one going ^_^
> 
> Here's the next character bio - This time on the girl with crystal for a body, appropriately named Crystal!
> 
> Crystal Quarry – Having lived in Paris all her life, Crystal understands the most about how Heroism works in her group. She is tasked with being her group's defensive strategist, and is considered to be their entrapper. Outside of her Trait, she is skilled in the art of Judo.
> 
> Crystal has a Trait that gives her a permanent diamond/crystal body and biology. Because she failed her application to the CFD, she has grown to despise her Trait, seeing it as being nothing more than a hindrance to her life if she can't use it to aspire to be a Hero like she wanted. This is what leads to her embitterment of the CFD. Outside of this, she is a reserved individual, and is the only one who shows signs of disgust at Kyoyu's lack of care when he starts stripping to change into his Hero costume. She is very cynical and to the point. She is also the one member of the group who doesn't fully agree with the kidnapping, but goes along with it out of bitterness towards CFD students. She is sarcastic and questions authority often, and tends to respond with a quip about her intended target.
> 
> Her Hero name is Cancrie (After the planet 55 Cancri E, which is made up of diamonds and crystals)


	23. The Damage Done

With a now tied up Shark Abnormal, using nearby metals to create a chain-like wire that would tightly constrain the kidnapping aquatic creature. Cloth from Ladybug's own costume, that she claimed to have created with her 'Lucky Charm' Trait, but Adrien knew that she had just duplicated it's atomic structure, was now wrapped around Adrien's shoulder as bandages, and around his arm and tied together like a cast for a broken arm, to avoid any further injury to it. The fact that the red and black bandages were still becoming darker as Adrien's blood soaked into it did nothing to reassure the young Vigilante, but Adrien didn't seem to mind too much. Still high on his adrenaline kick, he wasn't feeling pain like he normally would.

"So, everyone's okay… Good. That's put me at ease." The blond boy sighed with relief. He then glared towards the Shark Abnormal, his eyes narrowing as he did so. "If they've dealt with the guy who could force my Teleports, one of his buddies, and I took this guy out… And we assume Alya took out that bat character… Then there should be one left."

"I… Didn't actually see the guy, Kyoyu, getting captured. Just the Primal who helped him." Ladybug explained, still trying to tighten the bandages behind Adrien's back. The sheer number of cuts and bruises he had suffered throughout the fight with the Shark had her worried. He was so badly injured… She knew that Adrien wasn't the type to just give up a fight once it began… But she just wished that he hadn't been as reckless as to fight an Abnormal alone.

He'd been losing a lot recently… Did he feel like this was something he had to prove? That he was strong? That he knew how to fight? Was it pride? Arrogance? Something that this dumb model felt he needed to do to assert himself? _'Idiot…'_

"So maybe two left then, but one is injured… Good. That should make this easier then." Adrien purred when he felt the young woman's fingers trace over the still not scratched skin along his back. Quickly, he blushed and frantically tried to cover up his enjoyment of the action. "Crap, s-sorry. I-I have a cat like quirk about me. J-Just one of the mutations because of my Traits, y'know?"

"Don't worry about it." She responded, finishing up the tasks that she had left to do. Activating her Conversion Trait, Ladybug covered up what sounds she could, and recreated some of the tears in Adrien's tank-top. "You know, it might be a smart idea to invest in something more padded than just this vest for your Hero Costume."

"I need the movement."

"You also need to keep your blood inside your body. You're going to need medical attention, for certain. I don't even want to think how bad those wounds are in your shoulder…" Ladybug shivered as she remembered seeing the deep gashed for the first time. Blood seeping out of his body like a water faucet, and how he just… Didn't seem to care. Skin peeling from his arms… It was amazing that he was even standing afterwards. "Doesn't it… Don't your wounds hurt?"

Adrien shrugged. "Not really… Think I'm still in the zone… I'd rather get this all finished before I end up a writing mess on the floor."

"Woah, woah woah!" The Vigilante girl tightened his bandages up, which elicited a grunt of pain forum the young Dual Trait user, and made her way to look him square in his bright green eyes. "You are _not_ going to keep up with this rescue mission! You're way too injured for me to even consider letting you continue with it. Keep this up, and you'll kill yourself!"

It amused Adrien to think that this was exactly what he'd expect from someone like his lady. Stubborn and already with her mind set on something that she wouldn't deviate from. She'd only just begun her career as a Vigilante, and had been so scared when she'd started the work they had, and now here she was, putting her foot down and giving orders to him, like she was a real Hero. He would have told her he was proud of her if he had been Chat Noir in this moment. But he wasn't, unfortunately, and that aside…

"…With all respect due, I'm not stopping this mission." He firmly stated, looking her right back into her brilliant blue eyes. It didn't matter how much he loved this girl. "The person who's been kidnapped is one of my friends, and I'm sure as hell not going to just abandon them."

"I wasn't suggesting that. I'll go get them."

Considering Marinette's past with Chloe, it did surprise Adrien, just a bit, that she was so willingly ready to throw herself into the fray to save her childhood bully. It did aid in her unconscious attempts to earn his respect, but Adrien pushed back, with more vigour than he had previously.

"This isn't even your fight."

"Do you even know where they're holding your friend?"

"Do you?"

"I do."

The deep voice of Requin cut into the debate the Hero in Training and the Vigilante were having, revealing the Shark Abnormal to have woken, and been listening in to the conversation for a short while, at the very least. He didn't seem to be making too many efforts to escape his metallic binding, nor did he show much discomfort at being tied up like this, his resistance to it non-existent.

Silver eyes looked at the two debating Heroes, glancing between the two of them, his attention primarily focused on an unmasked Adrien Agreste. With only one arm functioning, Adrien wasn't able to reattach his flare-shaped mask back across his face. So for the first time, Requin and Adrien saw one another with nothing hiding the others face.

The Abnormal looked at the various wounds Adrien had all across his body, making particular note of the scratched across his half-exposed chest, and the improvised casting around his right arm. "Those courtesy of me?"

"Bastard…" Adrien muttered. "We gonna have to knock you out again, or are you gonna give up?"

"The latter." Requin said without hesitating for a second. His brutal honestly and compliance threw both Adrien and Ladybug off for a second as they processed the words that had just been said. "You won't get any trouble from me anymore. I give."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard. I'm giving it up." The prisoner remained still, not making any movements that his captors could consider aggressive in any way. "You wanted to know where your friend is, right? I know where she is. I can take you to her." When he saw the looks they both gave him, he sighed and continued to speak. "Let me see if I can guess your thought processes right about now _. 'He's going to give up his allies to get a better deal. What a scumbag'_. Am I warm?"

"You'll be on fire if Kim gets his way with you." Ladybug muttered before addressing the Abnormal officially. "Sounds about right from me. You and your buddies all set this up together. Why on earth would you rat them out now? You wouldn't get off any easier, you know that."

Nodding, Requin acknowledged that he knew. "Yeah, I know that perfectly well. Offer's still open though."

"Any reason we should trust you?" Adrien asked, crouching down to the same level as his Shark opponent, narrow eyes looking slightly to the side as his pupils focused on the snout of the Abnormal. "My guess is you're the one who put that beating on Sabrina, and you did all this to me. How're we supposed to know this isn't a trap?"

"Does it surprise you to know I have a certain code of ethics myself that I follow?" Requin asked, returning the glare right back. "I might not be an upstanding citizen, but I know damn well what's right and what's wrong. And I'm fully aware me and mine were in the wrong. Perhaps arrogance is what caused me to do this. Not saying I regret it. Evolution should dictate who gets what and how they get it, who achieves more with what they have. That's just the law of nature, and I'll gladly tear every one of you to pieces just to prove the point. That being said, I want to be a Hero because I genuinely believe in justice. We kidnapped someone. That's wrong, no matter how you look at it. You want to find her? I'll show you – No strings attached."

It was very clear to both of the CFD students that this Abnormal wasn't trying to hide anything – Despite the absurdity of that statement in of itself. Requin had nothing to gain, and at the same time, nothing to lose either. How he spoke indicated a feeling of his genuine intentions, but how could he honestly care? After everything that he had done, his part in the kidnapping….

How could they trust anything that this guy was saying? Even considering trusting him, especially after how badly he'd beaten Adrien down, was insane.

And yet…

"…It's not like we have a whole lot of other choices, is it?" Sighed Adrien.

"What – Are you serious?!" A gobsmacked Vigilante yelled out in surprise and shock over Adrien's choice of words. "You're going to trust him?!"

"Our options are to take a risk on this guy and potentially regret it, or not and regret it for certain, aren't they?" Adrien reasoned, before looking Requin in the eyes. "Your buddies will have moved Chloe, won't they? They aren't gonna be in the building just across the Seine now, are they?"

"Aren't you sharp?" Requin smirked. "Yeah, I came over here to buy them time before you showed up. My job was mostly to slow you down, not get myself captured. Here we are though."

That had made sense when Adrien had first thought of it, and now his suspicions were confirmed.

"Even if that's right, you can't go!" Ladybug still protested violently. "You – did you forget what he did to you?! He's dangerous!"

"You're a Vigilante, Ladybug, and I'm trusting you here." Adrien reminded her, with a grin. Hypocritical as it was, he knew she wouldn't be able to argue with it. "According to the media, and all the established laws of Heroism, I should have killed you the second I got the chance – But I'm willing to trust you. What's trusting one more enemy gonna cost me? My other arm?"

Weakly, the woman tried to justify her hesitation further. "You're injured… Your right arm!..."

"Not to play devil's advocate here, but if you think you're gonna be enough solo Buglady, you're out of it." Their prisoner commented, rising to his feet on his own, though his hands were still bound by the lamppost he had been fixated to. "Besides, how you think we're gonna get there? We swimming over? We need Agreste for his Teleporting Trait."

These were points that Ladybug couldn't despite, no matter how hard she tried to. She knew that from a practical stance, that Adrien needed to come along, but she truly, truly hated that fact. Silently, she cursed Kankaku for breaking her Yo-yo. Had she still had the device, she could have just swung over the river and searched each of the buildings herself… But now she was at the mercy of Adrien's Teleportation ability, and their need to cross the river. Once he was over… She wasn't going to be able to stop him…

Then again, he would have probably Teleported over anyway.

With a heavy sigh, she nodded, and rested her hand on the Abnormals shoulder, knowing that for him to Teleport all of them at once, she had to make physical contact with Adrien, someone or something that he was also in contact with. She glared at him though, so he knew that he was still under watch, not that it needed to be said.

"Before we head over," Adrien said, speaking as crystal clear as he possibly could to Requin. "Let me make one thing clear."

"Go ahead."

Holding up his left hand up, posed like a claw, Adrien activated his Destruction Trait, his hand going a dark colour once again, and lunged, stopping just an inch short of it destroying the Shark Abnormals face. Uncharacteristic venom in both his eyes and voice, Adrien spoke slowly. "If you're leading us on, planning on betraying us, or whatever, I swear to God, I'm going to use this Destruction Trait of mine to rip your fucking heart out."

* * *

Moving around the streets wasn't too difficult for Adrien, even if he was injured. He'd trained himself for this sort of strain when he decided that he wanted to become a Hero. The strain of moving three people a few months ago during the day Ladybug had debuted to Paris had been him when he was still weak. Now he was stronger and far more capable, so lifting these two wasn't a big deal, even if Requin did weigh about three times that or a regular Human.

There weren't any sounds aside from the noise Adrien's smoke made when he Teleported. No sounds of violence or fighting, or of movement excluding their own. Like this particular area was just dead to the world, and that nothing was going to interrupt the silence, except for the group moving through it.

Following the directions given to him by the prisoner, Adrien made his way to a far smaller warehouse, almost akin to that of a boathouse that would contain little more than a rowing boat and a box of lure on the edge of the Seine. The place looked run down, and there didn't seem to be much else to the area. It was fairly out of the way from the rest of the streets, almost like it was afraid of other buildings… Somehow.

Looking between one another, and then back at their prisoner, the two CFD students gave quizzical looks, with Adrien being the first to raise the question. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"You seriously brought Chloe here?"

"The place is a dump – That was kind of the point."

With not many other options, Ladybug slammed her hand onto the metallic chains that bided Requin's limbs together, and created another link, this time into the ground to keep him in place, before she ran to one side of the door, and Adrien to the other. This was the formation for a 'Breach and Clear' technique used primarily in hostage situations. With Adrien being injured, he was taking charge of busting the hinges, while Ladybug would kick the door down and charge in first. Adrien most likely Teleporting in shortly afterwards.

Words didn't need to be exchanged between the two of them for this. Both were trained, and both knew the other one was trained too. This was just what the needed to be doing at this point in time.

"Ready?"

Adrien nodded, preparing his Trait in his hands.

_"God I fucking hate you!"_

A loud shout from the inside the building could be heard bouncing off the walls, followed by a loud smack – If it could be called that. It sounded more like a rock being thrown against the side of a cow.

And then suddenly, what could only be described as what sounded like an explosion, or a bounce or a ricochet or something horrific was heard from inside the building, thunderous blast after cracks and attacks – Whatever was going on subsided within a few seconds, and sounded like it had been the result of a ruthless battle by bomb and bullet.

Protocol damned, Adrien Teleported right into the building, not wanting to wait a single second longer than what was needed to figure out what was happening inside. What he saw was… A surprise to say the least.

On the other side of the room, a girl who appeared to be made of precious rocks and minerals was lying flat on her face after having been sent flying into the wall at high speed by someone. She was obviously reeling from the attack, whatever it had been. It had clearly disorientated the now struggling woman, since she wasn't even to rise to her hands without sliding to one side, or flat on her face entirely.

And then there was Chloe, laid back in a chair that she'd been tied to with rope and a padlock. She looked a bit rough, since she seemed to have a bruise across one side of her face, but aside from that, she looked unharmed.

"Oh, you're here." She observed with what looked like a small smile. "Took you long enough."

"Tough crowd." Adrien joked with a chuckle, before he made his way over to the blonde girl, but not before breaking the hinges on the door behind him, allowing Ladybug to enter once the door had fallen to the ground with a loud collapse.

Ladybug took a second to look around the place once she stepped in, and then back to Chloe, blinking several times as she came to conclude that Chloe had been the one to do something like this.

What the hell was her Trait?!

"Are you alright? Can you walk?" The young male asked, checking over the injuries that Chloe seemed to have taken, minor as they might have been.

"Don't insult me, Adrikins." Chloe snapped, though her demeanour seemed a lot calmer, more good natured than it did when she did this sort of thing to anyone else. "I'm fine. You look like you need help more than I do." It was difficult for Ladybug, for Marinette to remember, Adrien considered Chloe to be a friend, and her vice versa. They had a reasonably good relationship, easily the best out of all the ones Chloe had in their class.

While Adrien didn't approve of how she treated others, and how Chloe sometimes treated him like he was a personal slave to her – They had a clear friendship. They cared for one another.

If Adrien didn't, he wouldn't have launched this entire rescue operation, would he?

It was in that instant that Chloe's eyes first fell onto Ladybug. Unexpectedly, she didn't show fear, or anger, or expectancy or… Much of anything really, other than curiosity. There wasn't a doubt she knew who Ladybug was – At this point, everyone in Paris knew about Ladybug – But unlike so many others, she didn't seem to fear her.

"You… You're the Vigilante. Ladybug, right?" She asked. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be out putting actual Heroes out of work or something?"

"Ladybug helped us rescue you. She helped Kim, Max and Alix, and came over here to help me find you."

"What the heck were those three stooges doing?"

"Helping me rescue you. Alya came as well. Those guys helped fight our way here, while Juleka and Rose went with Marinette to get the Heroes to come help out as well."

There almost looked to be a light in the rich girl's eyes, before she looked down to the floor, possibly concealing a smile or something else. Quietly, in an almost embarrassed manner, like she didn't want to admit it, she spoke with gratitude, "Suppose I should say thanks to everyone once we get back..."

"They'd appreciate that." Ladybug commented, folding her arms, almost perplexed with this unseen aspect to her rival's personality.

Chloe was as Human as the rest of their group… And she must have her reasons for being the way she was… Was there more to her? Or was she just spoiled, only showing this level of weakness because she was, as far as she was concerned, alone with Adrien, and was gratuitous for him being the one to rescue her?

"How about you appreciate _this_!"

It happened in less than a second, so much so that Ladybug barely even had time to think or react. A spinning spur of the moment that forced her body to react in a way her brain might not have necessarily told her to if she'd had more time to think things through.

Still moving, Crystal had managed to get to her feet without anyone noticing, and had prepared a final attack, possibly out of delirium or bravado, which it was wasn't entirely certain, even to her. Yet it remained that she had risen, and, pulling her right arm back, almost like she was about to threw a boomerang, generated a bulky, long spear made up of the crystal and diamonds her body created at will. She had taken careful aim at Chloe in particular, deciding that, if there was anyone here that she wanted to skewer before the consequences had to be faced, it would be the spoiled rich punk who had been driving her crazy for the last half a day!

With careful targeting, Crystal launched the spear like a javelin, it homing in on the blonde teenager at a high speed.

Ladybug didn't even think. "Get down!"

Her hands grasped onto Chloe's, pulled her in, and turned her around, shielding her with her body. She made an effort to get out of the way from this attack in the same moment, though it was met in vain.

The spear lodged itself into her left shoulder, impact heaving right through her body, sickening her and shocking her all at once. The impact knocked the young Vigilante to the ground, taking Chloe along with her, though the civilian was under a hell of a lot less pain and danger than her saviour was. Blood seeped from the wound, nowhere near as badly as something like Adrien's had been, but the clear pain that Ladybug was in, despite not being in a life threatening situation, was clear.

"Aaaah!"

Adrien reacted almost instantly.

Teleporting right next to Crystal, the anger in his eyes couldn't be clearer. Requin had gotten it easy in comparison to this woman, and even though Adrien knew fully well that what he was about to do was wrong, he couldn't care less. This was a conscious effort to injure this girl. He knew what he was doing.

His left hand shot, grabbing hold of Crystal's right arm like a rattlesnake attacking its prey, and in total spite of her rocky texture, Adrien's grip wasn't something that the kidnapper would be able to free herself from any time soon. He had grabbed hold of the area where the forearm and bicep met, where the elbow was on the arm. His grip was tight.

Glaring, Adrien made eye contact with his opponent.

Then he activated his Destruction Trait, and applied as much pressure as he could to the point on her arm.

It took a few seconds, throughout which Adrien just kept applying more and more pressure, until inevitably, with the elbow completely disintegrated, the forearm of the female kidnapper was snapped right off her body completely, falling to the ground with a rocky clack. No blood was expelled or poured, and there wasn't much impression that the movement actually hurt Crystal that much. All the same, she was in clear shock, almost as much as Adrien was in his movements.

But he wasn't done.

"Screw you!" The young Hero-In-Training yelled, finishing off his opponent with a huge back-leg front kick, shifting in all of his weight and energy into one devastating powerful finishing blow that sent his enemy off her feet and back into the wall, this time putting her out of commission for good.

Having activated his dangerous Trait once again, the wounds of the backlash from his Trait now reopened, causing his skin to peel, and blood to pour along down his arms again, this time a bit more clearly than previously, not that the blond paid it any attention. Quickly, he turned to check back on Ladybug, to make sure she was okay.

Aside from the initial scare, her wounds didn't seem to be that bad, considering. It was the equivalent to having a knife slice her, obviously, but from the looks of it, it could have been far worse. It didn't go too deep into her body, and more or less fell out as soon as Ladybug hit the floor. Her jumpsuit must have had some less apparent form of protection, since it had absorbed the vast majority of the impact – It was Marinette under there after all. Her talent for design was well documented. It was possibly some sort of alloy or combined fabrics that kept her protection to its maximum, while its constrictions to the minimum.

Chloe on the other hand seemed to be a bit more shaken at this display, or perhaps it was the sudden release of adrenaline that she'd just experienced. She seemed to be struggling to find the correct words, and to keep her hands steady. She was helping up the Vigilante as best she could. "You… You saved me…"

"Ow… Don't mention it." Ladybug grunted as she was picked up. "Did you get the Crystal Trait user?"

"She's down."

"So… that's all of them… It's over…"

"I don't think so…" The previous hostage muttered. "Before you arrived, one of the guys who kidnapped me, someone with silver hair, he went underneath that hatch over there." She pointed to what looked like a trap door near Crystal's location. "They said earlier it was a method of getting into the Seine… As a final way of escaping."

It didn't take much time for Adrien to make a decision regarding the final remaining member of the kidnapping group. Quickly Teleporting to the hatch and throwing it open, he found a very small, and rather short corridor way that would lead to an exit somewhere. Why this even existed underneath the building, he had absolutely no idea, but knowing that Kyoyu had gone down here was enough. "I'm going after him."

"Don't bother…" Chloe sighed. "He's been gone since you guys showed up. Probably a long…" The girl never finished hat sentence, trailing off as she made eye contact with something that she never through would bring her both such joy and relief to ever see in her entire life.

At the entrance to the building now, stood a small team of Heroes, all professionals in the field, trained and ready for hostage situations. Their rules of searching for hostages were small parties of perhaps three or four members to search all the buildings in the area over a large radius. These four were from the group that Ladybug had ran from before meeting with Adrien, apparently not having stopped their search in the time that she had been gone. It was just luck, therefore, that they had arrived at the same time as Adrien and Ladybug had finished clearing the building

"Confirmed, three standing, one down, one escaped." One Hero behind a mask announced.

"Out of my way, Hero, is my daughter in there?!" Shrill authoritarian cries from behind the protective wall of powerful Heroes that seemed to be guarding a member alongside them, one they were defending with their own bodies out of either honour or commitment. Either way, pushing between a small gap between two of the Heroes, revealed the Mayor of Paris had joined the Rescue force, no doubt after having learned that his daughter had been the one kidnapped. When he made eye contact with his daughter, his face was overridden with such relief and gratitude to whatever Gods were above, that he fell to his knees. "Chloe!"

The feeling was resident in Chloe too, and for the first time, Ladybug saw what looked like real, genuine tears of honest joy, build up and fall down the young woman's face. Not the fake cry she would use when she wanted something, but real, honest crying of happiness.

After staring at her father for just a few moments, Chloe quickly ran over to her father and tackled him with a huge, tight hug, bawling her eyes out. "D-Daddy!" She clutched him as tightly as she possibly could, like she was afraid he would suddenly phase out of existence if she didn't have as tight a grip onto him as she could Humanly manage.

A rare moment of touching weakness never seen before…. Both Adrien and Ladybug couldn't stop themselves from smiling softly. For all the walls Chloe set up… She wasn't bad. She wasn't a monster. She wasn't evil… She was Human.

Teleporting back to Ladybug, Adrien leaned over and whispered to her, "You… Really helped us out her, Ladybug. I for one appreciate it. And I think Chloe does too."

Blushing underneath her mask, Ladybug stammered for a few seconds, torn between her need to get out of the area before the Heroes decided to make a move to apprehend and unmask her, and her desire to just allow this heart-warming moment take place unhindered. "I… I'm just… I did what I… What I thought was best."

"Come on. I'll get you out of here."

Adrien offered his hand to the Vigilante woman, like a true gentleman. Courtesy of his years of high class, refined upbringing, he offered to take her hand with a palm out open, facing the sky while he smiled towards her. When Ladybug looked back at him, and more visibly blushed, she nodded and placed her hand into his, and he Teleported them away from this soft reunion.

He'd get into a lot of trouble for aiding the escape of a Vigilante. This wasn't an 'if' question. He'd done this in front of about five professional Heroes, the Mayor of Paris, and Chloe. This wasn't hypothetical. He would have to endure some serous punishment for this illegal act.

He didn't care though.

* * *

His location of choice was the roof of a building not too far away from here, but it was one that held significant value to both him and to Ladybug, whether or not he was aware that it held importance to His Lady. It was the site where they both truly became Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Burn marks and scuffs along the place were still present, and would probably remain there, emitting a smell strongly reminiscent to that of a cigarette for a few years before the city could eventually find the funds to get rid of them, or a Hero who had an appropriate power to fix the building. Utility Heroes were in high demand after all, especially with the rising crime rates.

Returning here for the first time in a long while, Adrien could have sworn he smelt burning Human flesh. He knew it was just psycho-synthetic, of course. He of all people had a reason for having that particular reaction to this building, this street, this area in general that he'd tried to avoid coming through alone if he could help it.

But with Ladybug, he was fine to visit here. Though of course, he had to feign ignorance, so as not to reveal his identity.

When she looked around, she knew where she was exactly. "Here?..."

"Is… This a bad place?"

"No, no… Well, kind of… Just a lot of memories, that's all."

This was where it all began.

The building atop where they had first encountered Sunstreak.

Of course, Adrien Agreste had _no idea_ that this building was something that Ladybug and Chat Noir had dealt with a few months ago. How could he? He wasn't Chat Noir.

He smirked at the thought process, though he made sure to hide that grin from Ladybug's sight. He'd chosen the place completely intentionally. In spite of the wound he had suffered that day, he really did consider it to be one of the best of his life. The day the mysterious Vigilante Ladybug decided to put her faith into a ragtag Vigilante by the name of Chat Noir, who showed up from nowhere and offered his services.

The strong woman who had found herself a palace within his heart. A palace made of diamonds, held together with love – And he really could not have put that any cheesier, could he?

He cleared his throat, and began to talk. "I know you must have some sort of idea about what Chloe's like. She's a CFD student, it's pretty hard not to hear about us… So you have to know a bit. She's… got a reputation, to put it lightly. I don't like it, but it's not like I can really stop her. She isn't a bad person, I promise you that. She's just… Some of people I know were tempted to just let her stay captured…"

Marinette already knew all of this, he knew, so he instead just smiled at her.

"I guess I just wanted to say, thanks, for not being one of those sorts of people. For wanting to save her, even though you must have known what kind of person she is."

"It's… Just what I do, I suppose." Ladybug stuttered, looking out at the city. "I'm still… New to all of this sort of thing. It's only been a few months since I started being Ladybug… So much has happened since then… I try and do what I think is right, but sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice."

"How so?" Adrien inquired, feeling his heart beat a little faster at the mere idea of Ladybug having doubts or concerns as to her status. He understood them, but that didn't mean he wanted her to feel them, if that made sense.

"I mean, I just became a Vigilante because someone I knew was in trouble… And I couldn't stay still. And now I work with Chat Noir… And I feel like he's the one in charge of me, though he says it's the other way around." She chuckled lightly under her breath. "Dumb cat. Where even was he today?... Either way, I just wonder… Does that mean I did the right thing, or did Chat not come to help because it was the wrong thing? He says he looks up to me… But I look up to him too."

The civilian form of Chat Noir blushed.

"I just suppose…. I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if being a Vigilante is the right thing to do. I know that it's an illegal thing to do… But when I look at all the good me and Chat have done, I just feel like this is something I have to do, more and more than ever before…" Again, Ladybug chuckled, this time a bit louder, allowing herself to be a bit more honest with Adrien. "But I wonder sometimes… If everyone I knew… If my family… Friends… Knew who I was, what I did when they weren't looking… Would they still… Be there when I needed them, or would they abandon me, because I chose this path? The more I walk down it, the more it feel right, but the more likely it is that I'll suffer for it if anyone learns who I am under this mask…"

These… Weren't questions Adrien had asked himself. When he'd first made the original Chat Noir costume, which had been an absolute pile of garbage looking back at the outfit he had now, he had asked himself all these questions… He'd challenged the very beliefs that he'd held for close to ten years regarding Vigilantism, and felt compelled to don the mask, at least once.

When he was out there… He never doubted himself. He was free to act as he saw fit, and dish out the justice where it needed to be dealt. He was free to fulfil the desires he'd had deep inside him, the things that had suffocated him since he'd killed his own mother…

And he'd never been happier. Because not only was he finally doing what he was put on this planet to do… He'd found someone he loved along the way.

The girl stood right next to him. Really… How many people could claim that? How many people could claim that they'd met the person they loved through the work they loved, and that the person they loved was one of their closest friends before they knew how they felt? It couldn't be that many people…

"…I used to hate Vigilantes." Adrien confessed, noting how quickly Ladybug's head snapped towards him. "I really did. To me, Vigilantes were some of the biggest scumbags in the entire world. People who used the good word 'Hero' to try and show off their Traits. To claim glory… To take work away from the people who had trained for years on how to use their powers for the good of all the world… That, to me, was what a vigilante was."

As he had expected, Ladybug looked saddened, and down to the streets below her. He'd expected her to become a bit upset after what he'd said….

But he wasn't done talking.

"When I was a kid… Something… Very, very bad happened, because I was stupid and didn't know what I was doing. It's… Why I wanted to become a Hero. Why I want to become a Hero. I suppose that… I looked at Heroes with bright eyes and total respect… Because… They were the people that I wanted to be… Who I still want to be. Every Hero in this city has my immense respect… And I hope that I'll be able to join them someday… But… Then you showed up."

"M-Me?"

"You said you wanted to help someone… And that's why you became a Vigilante… That was me, right? I was the person you wanted to help?"

"H-How did you – "

"I checked the news. The internet, blogs, everything… No sign of 'Ladybug' anywhere on those… Until the day that you saved me. And… You were incredible that day. 'Lucky Charm' as a Trait is something incredible, and you use it like a master… And… Well, maybe it's a bit biased, since you saved me and all… But I honestly think that you're doing a better job than some of the Heroes out there." Adrien smiled. "I mean… You're out there nearly every night if the media is to be believed… And you're fighting whatever wrongs are happening in the city. It's not always taking out huge criminal masterminds… But you're keeping people safe. I think that's what's the most important." He then grinned brightly, giving his Vigilante partner, and his classmate, a big thumbs up. "You've got my support. If you need anything, you only need to ask."

The dislike for Vigilante's and people who did nothing but mess around with their powers that Adrien held was well accounted. He had very clearly stated that he held little to no respect for anyone who was using their powers to play games, not do something constructive with them. Many people thought it was something to do with how dangerous Adrien's were.

Without the proper training, a Trait could be just as lethal as a gun, a tool designed to kill.

And yet, Adrien had extended his arm in support of Ladybug the Vigilante. She couldn't help but smile. "Thank you…"

* * *

"Holy Christ, Adrien!"

A long, jagged scar right down the right pectoral muscle, along his right breastplate, and all the way around to his shoulder, still seeping with blood as the medics attempted to clean out the wound, and stitch it up too. It was obvious, so very obvious. Impossible to miss… and it wouldn't heal. No Hero had any sort of Healing Trait or superpower that would allow the user to erase scars, and even then, paying for surgery to remove them wouldn't do any good. The teeth had sunk far too deep that it would take multiple operations, and years or physical therapy to remove them.

These scars were permanent. And they were there to stay, forever grated onto Adrien's body like a badge made of pure courage.

Nino and Alya had caught up, having been found by a squad of professional Heroes and brought to the rest of the group, being treated for injuries and exhaustion. Slageko, still in his water ball based prison, had seemingly calmed down, and accepted his defeat, and was sat cross legged, almost like he was meditating in a manner akin to that of a Buddhist monk. He looked at Adrien, noted the wound, and nodded, signifying his respect that he was even standing after taking that hit from Requin.

When his best friend had seen the damage done to Adrien's body, he had freaked the hell out, questioning what on earth had happened to the model and Hero-in-training. After an explanation of the battle and how he had suffered the scar, Adrien had been injected with a dosage of morphine and numbing medicine, so he wouldn't be able to feel too much pain while the medics stitched his wound up.

Adrien for one, seemed to be taking the injury pretty well. He didn't moan or complain, nor did he even particularly seem concerned by its existence. He would hiss when it was touched and the painkillers had worn off, since they were the only thing keeping him going now that his adrenaline rush had resided, but for the most part, he seemed to be in fairly good spirits.

"Dude, what about your modelling career?" Alya asked, inspecting the unseemly wound herself, and shivering as she realized that this was now something that Adrien would have to live with.

The blond teenager chuckled. "We live in a world where lizard people, people made of literal fire, scorpions and metal live. This scar… It's not gonna cause me a huge problem with the modelling." He even smiled. "Well, we haven't developed our appearance quirks yet. It'll probably add a bit more character to me, if nothing else. At least from a modelling perspective." Looking over the Broadband Trait users shoulder however, Adrien frowned, seeing another one of his classmates in bandages and yet another lying in an improvised mattress, still unconscious. "Forget about me. What about those two?"

With a look of both pity and concern, Alya turned around to look at the wounded members of their class. Max was the primary subject of concern for the students, his entire arm wrapped up in layers of bandages, Kim sat by his and Alix's side throughout the entire time they were there. Max had suffered a third-degree burn from using Kim's lava-fueled equipment all over his left arm. His injuries were probably more serious than Adrien's, were it not for the fact that Adrien's could have killed him if he hadn't been careful. Medics reported that Max would be left with white patches of skin long his left arm, permanently. The cost of his plan would result in, like Adrien, permanent battle scars. All things considered, Max was incredibly fortunate. A single centigrade hotter, and he could have been looking at charred skin.

As for Alix, she was concussed, but that aside, she should be fine. The medics mentioned that they wanted to keep her in a hospital for up to twelve hours in case of a welling in the brain, which could lead to far more serious complications. This one seemed more unlikely, but the worry everyone had for her was still there. Adrien felt particularly bad about her injuries, since there hadn't really been anything she'd even done to help in the fight. She'd come solely to have the life beaten out of her. Currently, Rose and Juleka were helping Kim with her and Max, Rose applying what cooling ice she could to Max's wounds where they were needed.

"They're… Nothing life threatening, but…"

"What about that Crystal girl? One of the kidnappers. What about her arm?" Adrien asked, an eyebrow quirked. He had seen her around, but she didn't seem to be in any particular pain. Vocally, she was angry, but not in the sense that she was in agony, rather that she was just pissed off with the medics trying to diagnose her with something.

"Apparently her injuries aren't that bad." Nino informed him. "Her body is made out of crystals and diamonds, both of which her Trait let's her create at will. She's fine, dude, but I don't think you're on her list of favourite people. Shame." He added on sarcastically. "But don't worry about it, man, you didn't ruin her handwriting skills."

Sighing with relief, Adrien nodded. "Good… I haven't used Destruction like that in… Well… Ever. I sort of forgot all about it in that moment… How dangerous it can be…"

"Remind me not to play you at arm wrestling." Alya joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. She got a few smiles from those around her, but that was all. "How's your arm?"

"Just got to go easy on it for a couple of weeks. After that, I should be okay to start using it like I normally did again." Looking at his left arm, still full of cuts, but covered in plasters and bandages to hold it together, so he could still use it, he smiled lightly. "Guess it's a good thing I'm trained ambidextrous. I should still be able to write the ten thousand lines were bound to get for doing this."

The mention of their punishment brought the mood right back down to rock bottom. Not that an official punishment had been issued yet, but the group was fearing the worst. Though none of them liked to admit to it, they all knew what the most likely case was going to be.

Expulsion, for breaking not only the rules of the campus, but the law, and the very ethics that they, as Heroes-in-training, were supposed to uphold. It had been a completely and utterly shattered the second they had chosen to put on their costumes and fight their enemies like they were Vigilantes.

And Adrien, helping Ladybug escape – He'd be lucky not to end up in a cell with a Trait suppressor around his neck, never mind getting thrown out of the school. The mayor had made very clear his desire to see Ladybug thrown in a cell, and how anyone helping her was just as guilty as the Vigilante herself. He'd probably get the worst of all of this, for certain.

It was highly likely he was looking at the end of his Hero career.

"Well, we had a good run, huh?" Nino chuckled nervously, trying and failing to lighten the mood, before sighing. "Y'know, I don't even care. We did right here."

"Couldn't agree more, buddy." Nodded the injured Parisian. "We did the right thing, regardless of what the Heroes say. Given the situation…"

It wasn't long until the group was joined by Marinette, who had gasped in horror at the injuries. Ladybug hadn't seen the full extent of them, but Adrien knew that she'd had at least a somewhat vague idea, though, for the sake of her identity, he played along.

"Marinette?" Juleka had stood up and moved over to the blue haired girl as quickly as she could when she spotted her, a frantic look on her face. "What the heck happened to you? We lost you around that crossroads! We thought one of the kidnappers had gotten to you!"

"Sorry!... I kind of… Got… Lost?" It was an unbelievable, unlikely, and downright pathetic excuse, but it was honestly all Marinette had to offer her classmate. She took the odd glances this excuse got her with very little grace, hiding her blushing face with the blue cape her Hero costume held.

The group managed to share a small laugh at her awkwardness. After a short while of asking the injured how they were feeling, and a few comments about Adrien's new scar, still clearly seen by anyone who looked at him, since now his tank-top vest was utterly shredded due to his movements, leaving him without anything around his chest. The group was in a somber mood, not particularly able to find any motivation to feel enthusiastic about their future options regarding the Hero course.

They all knew their actions had been highly illegal. None of them were under any hopeful illusions.

The injuries suffered by two of their classmates that would live on with them forever into the future would remind them, even as they laid on their deathbeds – This was their own fault.

"How is everyone?"

Having made her way to the group without anyone noticing her, Chloe made her presence known to them with a question of concern. She'd found a place next to Adrien, and flanking her opposing side was Alya. She'd inserted herself into the circle without anyone really noticing her until she'd spoken up, upon which she instantly got all their attention.

"Chloe!"

"Are you alright?"

"Are you okay?"

Question after question regarding the well-being of their classmate temporarily overwhelmed the rich girl, who had to take a step back in surprise at the concern that was being demonstrated towards her. "I'm – I'm okay…"

"You look like you took a hit to the face." Alix commented from her bedridden position. "You sure you're alright, moneybag?"

Ignoring the comment – An action that sure didn't go unmissed by her classmates – Chloe sighed, and looked at each of them individually, even Marinette. Like she was inspecting them, making sure that they were in fact, legitimate people who did indeed exist in this reality. The way she did this in absolute silence caused a few of her classmates to give her weird looks.

Then, she did something none of them expected.

She bowed.

"Adrien and Ladybug told me everything you did… I'm only going to say this once, so listen up – Thank you, all of you."

* * *

"Now, under normal circumstances, each and every single one of you would be expelled."

The brutal honesty had been expected from the CFD's principle. Mr. Damocles' strict and law abiding nature was well documented by the students at the school, and they all knew him as one who, while fair, was more than willing to dish out punishment where he felt it was appropriate, and this was very clearly one of those times.

Adrien, Marinette, Alya, Nino, Kim, Alix, Juleka, Rose and Max all stood before him, their Hero costumes still being worn, as he had not permitted them time to change before reporting instantly to his office after hearing of their return to the school. He had made his position very clear to the other teachers, who knew what to expect. Fuel Tank and Crosscut stood either side of him, The Oil Trait user staring at his students with a look like he'd just been personally slapped in the face, while Crosscut appeared to be more sympathetic, and more willing to listen and to let them off with a slap on the wrist.

The man who kept his owl-like quirks in check cleared his throat before he continued to speak. "At this school, we aim to teach you all to behave in a manner befitting that of professional Heroes out in the real world. You have been accepted into this school for one reason, and one reason alone – You hold potential." He stood up and continued to speak, now towering over his students. "You were seen as some of the best of the best. Each of you holds the potential to be a great Hero. And we _assumed_ that was what you desired to be."

No one had any words that they wanted to say in response to that. They all knew that doing so would only result in harsher language being thrown at them. They knew they were guilty, so they just kept quiet.

In truth, all of them felt sort of bad about doing what they had done, though they knew it had been the right thing to do. They knew that what they had done was wrong. The rules… The laws regarding Heroics were there for a reason. To keep them safe. To keep the people in Paris safe… And they'd broken those rules, despite wanting to uphold them as Heroes. That was inherently hypocritical… They wanted to be Heroes to uphold these rules…

Adrien in particular felt the most guilt, now that the rush of anger and adrenaline had worn off. He was responsible, he knew, for all of this. At least, for dragging his classmates into it. He should have gone alone, and not caused them all to be punished for his own actions.

This was… His fault.

"Mr. Agreste." Mr. Damocles addressed Adrien directly, which made the young teenager gulp. "You especially have shown more promise than this. You were on the list to be entered into the Elite course. The only reason you were not was because of pure bad luck – Your name was not pulled out the hat we used to select who should go in between you and Quartz Schwarz, whom possesses not only a rare Dual trait like yourself, but has your exact test scores. You have an Elite's potential... And from what I've been told, you were the instigator of this 'rescue mission'?"

His fists tightened as he was showered with praise, only to be then sucker punched in the gut with shame. "…Yes sir."

"And that you aided in the Vigilante Ladybug's escape?"

"…Yes."

"I should throw you out of this school, and inform every single school in the country to lock its doors to you." His sharp reprimand made even the teachers to his sides flinch, though neither of them argued with their boss. "You of all people should know the dangers of people who do not control their powers."

That sentence made Adrien feel sick, as he knew exactly what his headmaster was referring to. He had to clasp his hand around his mouth, since he could feel himself almost vomiting from the traumatic memory of his mother's blood on his hands. Mr. Damocles was one of the older people who knew Adrien's parents well, and remembered the incident in his mind quite clearly.

"I… I was…. I was the one who led everyone else. I was the one who suggested going after her… I was…. It's my fault." Adrien agreed. "Throwing me out… Would be completely fair, sir."

"I'm glad to see you agree."

"That's _not_ fair!"

It was Alya who finally snapped, and spoke out against the words of the CFD's headmaster, catching the attention of every person in the room as she yelled at him through gritted teeth. Her voice was crisp and clear, and she wasn't holding back.

"If we didn't go to save Chloe, who knows what would have happened to her?! You said we're trained to be Heroes because we have potential, right? Well what good is training us if we don't use that training to help people when they need that help the most?! What's even the point of it! If you're going to throw Adrien out… You should throw me out as well!"

"What the – "

"Alya!"

"I was one of the people who originally went with him. I kept the enemies at bay while he went on ahead. I didn't stop him. I'm just as to blame here. If you're getting rid of Adrien, I'm going too!"

It had certainly caught the attention of their headmaster, who was starting at the Broadband Trait user in a look that seemed to be one of shock and surprise that such a vocal response had been given by a single one of his students. Historically, he wasn't the best at dealing with high amounts of pressure, but he knew how to be firm when needed. He was a Hero, after all.

Of course, he should have expected some kind of resistance. These students had gone out of their way to fight for what they had thought was right. They weren't prepared to take this punishment for doing what they had been taught to do lying down. Alya in particular being someone who was very open about her stances, and more than willing to fight them.

She wasn't alone, either.

"Same with me." It was Kim who spoke next, now shifting the attention to the Lava Trait user. "I was the first person who wanted to help. I encouraged it. And it's because of me that Max now is scarred for the rest of his life." It seemed like Max had something he wanted to say about this particular statement, but Kim prevented him from doing so. "Adrien was the one who actually saved Chloe, so he of everyone shouldn't be thrown out." The athletic teenager gritted his teeth as he spoke. "You can't… You can't punish the one person who actually saved Chloe! What the hell's Heroic about that?!"

Before another person was able to make their protests heard, a huge gust of wind suddenly erupted through the room, knocking the air out of everyone in the room's lungs, excluding the headmaster. No damage was done, nothing of the sort, but Mr. Damocles hadn't moved an inch, yet he was very clearly using his Trait, not that it made it clear what that Trait was.

He took advantage of that moment of silence.

"Like I said, I _should_ do that." He said, clearly. "However… I have received a phone call from the mayor regarding this course of action."

That caught everyone's attention, and it was Marinette who questioned it. "The mayor?..."

"He has expressed his undying gratitude to each and every one of you for saving his daughter. Starting tomorrow, Chloe will be back in classes as per her normal timetable would allow. Each one of you will be also attending classes as normal. There will be no punishment. Except for you, Mr. Agreste."

Adrien gulped.

"The mayor has stated that while he is grateful, he should legally have you arrested for aiding an illegal Hero…. But given the fact that you were the one who rescued his daughter, and led the team, he has allowed this particular crime to go under the radar, and has left your punishment to my disposal." The headmaster looked up at Adrien, and met him square in the eyes. "If I'm completely honest, I would say that I'm proud of the actions that you students have taken. In spite of my own reservations about it, I am proud that we have raised such fine pupils, who are willing to do what it takes to help those in need Adrien, It is my opinion that you have true leadership material." The headmaster grinned, albeit solemnly. "But… I'm afraid legally, I can't give you a free pass on this. A punishment must be given."

"I… Understand, sir."

Mr. Damocles sat back down in his seat, and reached for one of the slips he kept at the corner of the desk. He scribbled something onto it, and then slid it to the edge of the table, for Adrien to collect.

It was a suspension notice.

"One week's suspension. That will be your punishment as dictated by the law of the country. One week's suspension, and we'll never hear of this again."

"….That's… Very… Very kind of you sir. Thank you."

A week's suspension as opposed to total expulsion. Adrien had to smile.

That had gone a _hell_ of a lot better than he had expected. And in the back of his mind… He knew.

He knew that he had gotten off so easily because Chloe had begged and begged her father to go easy on him, and on the class as a whole.

The one time her spoilt attitude had been put to some good. Adrien couldn't help but thank her in his head. He made a mental note to visit her to thank her in person before his suspension was lifted.

* * *

' _Damn CFD students…'_

Charred skin across his right arm and on his stomach too, and not a single damn hospital in the entire city to go to. If he even went ear one, he'd be identified as a member of the kidnapping group, and be arrested within a heartbeat. And he'd still have these damn painful chars ruing his body.

Kyoyu growled under his breath, clutching his wounds as he made his way through the empty streets of Paris. No one was around, no one to see him in this weakened state, but at the same time, that meant there wasn't a single person there to help him.

As far as he knew, he was the final member of the kidnapping five still free. Crystal was still in the warehouse when he left after that Chloe girl had unleashed holy hell upon her. Requin seemed to have betrayed them – The bastard -, Kankaku was frozen in some cell someplace, and Slageko was probably getting five star treatment after sweet-talking the guards with his damn vocabulary.

Leaving him the only one who was still free, not receiving punishment… and still extraordinarily bitter.

Parts of his skin were black like freaking charcoal, and felt like it had the texture of tarmac on a roach. Like his very flesh had been burnt to a crisp thanks to that Lava trait user and his equipment usage. The Forced Activation Tait user felt a huge embitterment, even more so than he already did towards the CFD, and the students who resided there, for doing this to his body. For rendering him as some sort of freak with skin that would never be able to feel touch, and would crunch whenever he tried to use it. Permanent scars along his body.

He wasn't just embittered now. He hated them. He hated the CFD students. He hated the CFD. He hated the lot of them.

Ladybug.

Adrien Agreste. Kim Le Chein. Whoever the hell else had been there. He hated them all, with every fibre that was left in his being.

But he couldn't do anything about it.

Like it or not, his priority had to be getting out of the city without being spotted, and getting to a hospital that was willing to treat him and not ask any questions, or report who he was to the Heroes there. Where could he go nearby that wasn't too close, or too far away?

Versailles? No, that wouldn't work. It was too close to Paris, and even if it wasn't, the historic city had such a huge presence of Heroes there, someone was bound to recognize him.

Pontoise? Too far away…

Meaux?... Maybe…

"Rrgh… Fucking… CFD fucks." Kyoyu grunted through firmly clenched teeth.

He wanted revenge, he really did.

He wanted to get even. No, not even…

He wanted revenge. As in, he wanted to crush every single one of the fuckers into the fucking dirt.

"Your power is one that I am most interested in."

Suddenly, Kyoyu realized he wasn't alone, but this voice, wherever it was, couldn't be pinned down by him. He shot his head left, right, up, everywhere he could think of, but the sound seemed to be coming from inside his own head.

"What the hell? Where are you?"

There was no answer to that question, and the voices kept pouring right into Kyoyu's head, asking more questions. "What I want to know is this – You and a group of your friends attacked the CFD. Why?"

"We wanted to have a fight, prove they were wrong in who they accepted into their school. That's all we were after."

"And for that… You felt the need to attempt to kill them?"

"I didn't intend on killing anyone… Until they scarred me like this." Kyoyu snapped back, suddenly enraged. It was unlike him, and his calm, blunt personality. Perhaps the wounds he had suffered were affecting his perception of how to handle the situation, but aggression was all he had left in him right now. "I'm not taking this bullshit from someone who isn't going to show me their damn face. Get the hell out here or piss off!"

For a short while, there was silence. The French-Japanese teenager kept glancing around, half expecting to see his stalker in one of the windows of the buildings that surrounded him, and watching each of his movements with a cold glare…

No one was around him though.

Until he heard the voice again.

"Very well."

As soon as the voice stopped, what looked to be like a black, shrilling vortex appeared before Kyoyu, who jumped back from the spinning darkness. About seven feet tall in height, it towered over the shorter five foot seven Forced Activation Trait user. Part of him was ready to go on the offensive, to strike the second that whoever it was about to step out of this portal appeared.

But not one person did. But rather, three did.

One person had a cat like appearance. This was a male person who looked to be about fifteen years old. He had large eyes, sclera green, and a black iris. A long strand of hair, which were, looking closer, whiskers. Atop his head were a set of large cat ears, black, like his hair, which was slightly shaggy. A cats tail came from behind the young male, and within his visible teeth, along the top row, were a set of fangs.

The second individual looked a lot different, with long scarlet red hair and dark blue eyes. This individual also seemed to be sporting a set of antenna, which weren't particularly large, but existed nonetheless. She looked like the same age as the other teenager, if a bit shorter in stature to boot.

And then came the third person.

"My name is Hawkmoth." The tall man introduced, his face hidden by a silver balaclava mask. A sinister smile filled his face up, as his dark blue eyes narrowed and met with Kyoyu's silver ones. This man had an air of intimidation about him just by standing there. This was a person who had seen the good and the bad of the world, and inhabited the bad of it. Not just inhabited it… This person ruled it.

That's what his appearance felt like, anyway.

This was the moment when Kyoyu blinked, and activated his Trait.

And suddenly became horrified.

"What the holy fuck?... The…" He struggled to formulate the words needed to speak a coherent sentence, but he was very clearly shaken. Hawkmoth hadn't even needed to sue words to have this effect on the silver haired boy. "You… How many freaking _powers_ do you even _have_ in you?!"

With a Dual Trait user like Adrien Agreste, Kyoyuu was able to select which power he wanted to activate. The same with Abnormals….

But no Abnormal he'd ever encountered had this many powers, and this person was, without a shadow of a doubt, Human.

"Many." Hawkmoth's simple answer was. "Tell me something, do you desire revenge on the CFD? If this is indeed your goal… I believe that I will able to be of assistance to you. I am always in need of new soldiers to my army… And your power is an interesting one indeed… Unless, of course, you'd prefer I take it."

Revenge on the CFD… Kyoyu did have to admit… That sounded good.

"So…. You want me to join your army? How will that help me get any sort of revenge?" The intimidated boy asked, raising his eyebrow, but not backing away anymore, allowing himself this moment of intrigue.

Knowing he had captured the attention of the young boy, Hawkmoth pressed on further. "An attack, that's how. For which I could use a Trait such as yours. A chance to get revenge on those who have attacked you… Do you accept?"

At this point, it was barely even in question.

Hawkmoth had made perfectly certain of that. The use of one of his many powers was working to his favour, allowing him to manipulate this boy with far much more ease than he would otherwise have needed.

"Yeah." Kyoyu grinned. "I do."

Smirking, Hawkmoth held open his hands, and created another portal to the sides. "Tikki, Plagg, take this boy back to the rest of our units. I have business elsewhere to attend to."

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so marks the end of the kidnapping arc - fear not, each one of the characters stil has plans for them, and this story isn't slowing down any time soon ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this one!
> 
> And now, for the final character bio - Our shark boy, Requin
> 
> Requin Genblanc – Requin, in part to his shark physiology, loves the ocean and the sea. He has a belief in the survival of the fittest mentality, and refuses to be one of the weaker individuals. Due to his shark physiology, he is remarkably strong, and possesses a strong level of skill in Karate.
> 
> Requin is a very solitary individual, appreciating his own company, and not talking unless he feels the need to. Brutally strong thanks to his Trait, his martial arts is something he continuously hones. His failure to be accepted into the CFD humiliated him, as he believes that only the strongest are accepted into the school, and since he failed, that means that he must be weak too, something he refuses to acknowledge. He is ruthlessly violent, and will use absolutely any means to win a fight, from punches to kicks, to biting and using his environment to his advantage. He is a combat genius, and possesses a keen intellect. He prefers to fight in the water, and has a dislike for people who disrespect the ocean. He is also one of the more ethically strong characters, believing in justice wholeheartedly. Of everyone, he is the only member to realize after being stopped that his actions were truly wrong, and was willing to betray his group in order to do the right thing.
> 
> His Hero name is Predator


	24. Aftermath

"A tournament?"

_"_ _Not just any tournament, dude! The Academy Clash Tournament!"_

The Academy Clash tournament was an even that was help only once every few years, and while other events like this happened around it, the Academy Clash Tournament was the one that everyone knew, and everyone remembered. Held in the Primal homeland of Rekksora, the tournament was an event in which the top Super-powered academies from around the world would send their students to fight against one another in a high stakes, high action brawl, where total use of Traits, Primality's and Abnormality's was completely fair game.

With such a high roster of applicants, the reason this particular tournament was so popular was because of the academies that were permitted to take part in this even every time it came around. The CFD was one of them, which was famous for cultivating most of the best Heroes in all of Europe. They were famous for teaching their students how to function as one cohesive unit, while still being capable on their own. Worldwide, they were regarded as the number third ranked Hero academy.

Oxford Hero Academy was another, the Britain based world famous Academy was established long before any other, and had a long history of being the forerunner to Heroism. Having such high entry requirements, Oxford had some of the most refined and talented students on the planet. The powers that their pupils held were nothing to be underestimated. They were the second highest rated Hero Academy on the planet.

After that, there was the Warriors Tribe, in Senshi. Unlike Humans, the Abnormals had no concept of what a Hero was. Their equivalent was what they called a Warrior. Functionally, they were Heroes, but also a part of the Senshi military, which made them not only ethically trained, and skilled and refined in the use of their powers, but also made their army something to be truly feared. Warriors were well known for not holding back on the battlefield, and their undying loyalty towards Senshi and towards one another. And since Abnormals had the ability to hold multiple superpowers within their bodies, and could pass them down genetically, they were a group of elite and unpredictable fighters that the rest of the world was both struck dumb with huge respect for, and fear of an invasion someday. This Tribe, Academy, whatever it was that you desired to call it, was ranked fourth in the Hero Academy listing.

As for the Primals, while they had a superpowered academy, they didn't really have any established Hero system. Primal society was based on the concept of the survival of the fittest, and as such, they didn't have a huge amount of regard for laws when surrounded by their own species. As a result, Rekksora, their homeland, relied on the whims of the strong, and there was always violence there. Their superpowered academy was mostly a display of pride, something they could hold up and show that they weren't just backwards savages. And it was unfair to call them such. In spite of their society, the Primal presence at the Academy Clash Tournament was something highly anticipated every single year. While there was no Hero system, the academy produced some incredible fighters. Many of those pupils wound up emigrating to places like Europe and other continents, offering their services to Hero establishments. Their school, appropriately named Primal Academy, was the fifth ranked Hero Academy in the world.

Then finally, you had the Ultimate Hero Academy, located in Japan.

UHA as it was often abbreviated was a place that only accepted the strongest, the best, those with the most potential, and those with the strongest superpowers. Getting in was like trying to pull nails from your own fingers with a line of string. They had remained at the top through utterly brutal training methods and nonstop fight-training, pushing their pupils to their absolute limits, breaking them, and building them back up. And the results showed. When it came to contests of skill, power, and absolute dedication, never giving up for even a second, then no one could beat the Ultimate Hero Academy.

Once every few years, these schools would all meet up in Rekksora, and enter the Academy Clash Tournament, and pit their students against one another in a brutal display of combat. Pride in education, dedication to Heroism, and personal skill all thrown into a battle to determine who the strongest Hero applicant in the world was at the time. Who was training the best students, and who was the real front-runner in Hero education.

There was also a prize – At the end of the tournament, a winner was found, and that winner had won their class what was known as a System Tour – Which, in simple terms, was travel rights for their entire class to go visit all the participating academy's, learn their ways, and other important sites in Heroism, such as the Luna Kingdom, located on the moon – These expenses even covered the requirements for space flight!

A tournament of high action, skill, power, and ability, against the very best students on the planet, and the prize was unlimited travel to enhance their education and understanding of the world of work they had around them – All in all, it was a clash of the titans, and an event looked forward to like the Olympics world over.

Adrien couldn't help but smirk, halting his exercises with a grip booster in his left arm, stopping at having done twenty seven in a consecutive row. Forearm enhancements could wait. He picked up his phone, which had been on speaker mode this entire time, and held it to his ear so he could better hear his friend. "You're serious, right Nino? They actually said we're taking part this year?"

_"_ _Well, it's totally voluntary, but I'm sure signing up. Thought you might be interested. I'm in line waiting to put my name down. You want me to add yours too?"_

"Absolutely!" The blond model responded almost instantly, with the biggest grin on his face. "The Academy Clash tournament… That sounds like a hell of a fight, doesn't it?"

 _"_ _Makes those kidnappers sound like a cakewalk, right bro?"_ A chuckle could be heard from Nino's end of the phone call as he spoke.

"Right." Adrien looked at his right arm, the bandages having been removed just last night. He was currently two days into his suspension from the CFD, and in that time, he'd been taken to a doctors to get his arm seen to by someone who had a healing type Trait. The rate at which it had increased his right arms recovery had been nothing short of incredible, but he still needed to relax it for at least the next week. No using it for heavy lifting, like weights or anything like that, until he was back at school.

He'd had to go with Nathalie, since his father was apparently out on business or something else. Too busy to even see his own son to the hospital. Sometimes Adrien wondered if his father even liked him at all, or just came up with this stuff to avoid having to spend much time with him at all.

 _"_ _Speaking of those guys, did'ja find out about what's happening to them?"_ Nino's asked. Through the phone, Adrien heard a shuffle, sounding like Nino was making his way further in the line he was in.

"Yeah, I went and asked yesterday." He replied. He then reached over to his desk and started to read out some of the notes that had been handed to him by the officers in charge of the Kidnapping group. "Apparently they were all from Feuer Academy. It's on the other side of the city, not too far from where we fought them. All of them were CFD applicants, and all of them failed, not all due to their Traits or how powerful they were, but in a few cases, it was to do with their mental states and philosophical viewpoints. The one you fought, Slageko, he's apparently an example of someone who had a comparatively weaker Trait."

_"_ _Sure didn't feel weak to me."_

"Tell me about it." Adrien chuckled, remembering the horrible effects of the Echolocation Trait. "Well, it wasn't his Trait so much, but the effects of his visual quirk. Apparently, since his body structure was so inhuman and more like a bats, it lowered his overall durability, so he could take a lot less damage in a fight. Apparently he's in some sort of reformed education program now. I heard the Abnormals were interested in training him, but it's still open for speculation. As for the rest… The Primal, Kankaku, he's been figured out as the mastermind behind everything, so he's in jail right now. Guess his plan to surpass the CFD backfired. Crystal is still in the hospital, but Feuer Academy is still willing to train her."

_"_ _What about the shark Abnormal?"_

Sighing, Adrien looked over Requin's file. This was the only one he had honest mixed feelings about. "See, that's what's interesting. He helped Ladybug and me find out where Chloe was, and cooperated with us completely. I told the police that, and I guess news of him got to Britain. Oxford has offered him a position, and he accepted it there."

_"_ _In Oxford?!"_

"Yeah. Apparently they think he has the potential to become a Hero that the rest of them lacked." Adrien put the files down on his bed so he could see each and every one of them. "The only one who hasn't been accounted for is the Forced Activation Trait user, and no one's seen him since that day. The police and Heroes are still looking for him. Him aside, they've been dealt with pretty quickly."

 _"…_ _Kinda seems like they got the better end of this whole mess than we did. You got suspended, and they're off the higher places, especially that Shark guy."_ Nino commented with what almost sounded like bitterness, with what he felt to be pure injustice having prevailed over the people who had done their very best to uphold it the best that they could.

In a way, Adrien completely understood Nino's feelings, and agreed with them. People who committed such horrible acts shouldn't be given opportunities in such high places that people would literally kill for, but on the flip side… "Personally, I'd rather they surpass us. I'd rather them be Heroes than Villains."

 _"_ _You have a point… I don't really like it though."_ Nino sighed. " _You been to see Chloe yet?"_

"Later on. I was about to before you called."

_"_ _She's mentioned wanting to see you. Talk to you about something. Not sure what. She asked me to pass on the message that she wants to see you ASAP."_

Adrien blinked. "I thought you didn't like her?"

 _"_ _Hate her bossy attitude, but she's calmed down a bit. Haven't really had too many issues with her since she came back to class. She keeps this up, I won't have any problem with her."_ The Dual Trait user could swear that he could hear his friend grinning over the phone. _"She's even started leaving Marinette alone after hearing she helped rescue her. Maybe getting kidnapped has smacked some senses into her."_

"Wouldn't that be nice?"

_"_ _Totally. Oh, gotta go dude, I'm up. I'll write your name down too, yeah? Catch you later!"_

"Got it man, thanks."

And with that final exchange between them completed, Nino hung up, leaving Adrien alone in his room, surrounded by files he had been given by the police, exercise objects, and a stack of homework that had so eagerly been given to him by his best friend the previous day.

Two days into his suspension, and Adrien could already feel himself going just a little bit crazy from being constantly trapped inside the family mansion. His father had barely even seen him since his suspension began, but had made it pretty clear he wasn't even remotely pleased with his son, or what he'd done. He'd quoted it as the reason he had been against Adrien stepping foot into public schooling, and that if the law didn't require it, he would have pulled him out right then and there, the second he decided to try to save Chloe.

It wasn't that Adrien couldn't understand his father's point of view in this situation though. It was easy to see that his father was worried about him and had a great deal of concern for his safety. Especially since the event had happened on the anniversary of his wife's death. Adrien wouldn't be able to apologize enough that he'd had to do what he'd done on that day of all days, but he stood by the rescue operation.

Ree had also expressed her worry and concern regarding Adrien's constant tendencies towards getting into fights, but Adrien had shrugged off the concerns that she had had over him. It was part of his life. Part of the work that he had to do. He was a fighter, so he would fight. That was just the burden he had to bear as a Hero in training.

Indeed, Adrien had felt that he'd had to do what he'd done, and he wouldn't have changed a thing if he was given the chance.

Well, except for maybe the scar.

It wouldn't get in the way of his modelling career. Public Relations for his father's brand had managed to spin it off as a badge of honour, acquired while accumulated in the line of duty, and apparently there was a large portion of teenage girls who admired Adrien who thought scars were damn sexy, so that, combined with the skill of the PR team had practically saved his modelling career. It was one less thing he had to worry about. Still, given the tank tops Adrien wore, the scar was visible on his shoulder when he wasn't wearing his usual jacket along with it, and in his Hero costume, it was very clear and obvious. It was unsightly, but Adrien didn't mind it. He would have liked to avoid it if he could, but he couldn't, so there wasn't any point in getting upset about it.

His visual quirks still hadn't come about yet, so for all he knew, that would cover up the scar, but Adrien was at peace with it. He accepted it.

A visual quirk was something that everyone had. They were slight alterations to someone's appearance depending on their superpowers. This could range from a tail, to heterochromia, to literally anything and everything. There were many cases of people developing them at birth, and an equal number of people developing them later in life. Very few people didn't have a visual quirk anymore.

The fact Adrien hadn't developed his yet was a rare case indeed – Even more rare was the fact most of his class hadn't developed any such quirks. Only a few were of actual note, and they were very common ones. Mylene was one, having natural dreadlocks and multiple coloured of hair to speak of, and Juleka, who's hair had a natural purple tint to it. Alya had her Magenta eyes when she used Broadband, and it was probably only a matter of time until they replaced her natural eye colour permanently, and Marinette had her blue hair.

But he quickly shook these thoughts out of his head. They weren't important right now.

He knew he had to visit Chloe soon, and he had every intention of doing so, but he also wanted to visit Marinette, not that he was sure what he was supposed to say to her. He was supposed to be hiding the fact that he knew that she was Ladybug, so he couldn't just stroll up and say that he was grateful to her for saving him and helping him rescue their blonde classmate… But he felt like he had to go to her, say something to her!

He sighed and glanced at his alarm clock on his bedside. In the red font, it informed him that the time was currently 18:39, which was about the time he would normally have gotten home on this particular day had he decided to walk home. So that meant that pretty much everyone should be in their homes right about now, unless they were signing up for the Academy Clash Tournament.

Deciding that he liked the odds, Adrien Teleported.

* * *

 Things had certainly been… Different for Chloe after the kidnapping. The strangest thing was that she wasn't afraid of those people coming for her again. She didn't have a trace of fear left in her after that event. Nothing left in her. No anxiety, no nothing. Not of kidnappers, anyway.

Her father had gone off on all sorts of rampages, assigning bodyguards to be around her or the building that she was in pretty much twenty-four-seven, despite how utterly pointless it was, or how little it would honestly do to aid her in the event of another attack. While Chloe was completely capable of protecting herself thanks to her abilities, she felt like her father disagreed. Of course he would. She had been a hostage just a couple of days ago.

Yet she had readjusted to regular life pretty well, considering the events transpired. Many people in her situation would have been traumatized, scarred for life, unable to cope with the crippling stress and fear that came with being the victim of such a crime. But Chloe felt none of these things. She felt…

Pretty safe, actually.

And she had to wonder… Was it because of the Vigilante Ladybug she had met?

Being in a position like Chloe, in a rich family of power over others both financially, socially and politically, she had been raised to utterly hate and despise Vigilantes, no matter in what form they came in, no matter what they did, and no matter what it was that they claimed to stand for. They were crazy, self-obsessed lunatics, concerned only with the protection of themselves. People who had no real goal other than to demolish the establishment – Essentially a bunch of rebels that needed to be crushed.

Not that Chloe could even begin to claim to believe that. Not anymore.

If all of that were true, then Ladybug would never have come to help her, not take a crystalized spread to the shoulder for her, despite knowing next to nothing about her. There was no chance of that sort of thing being true. Chloe just couldn't bring herself to believe that.

Not for a second.

In the moment of her thinking how she couldn't accept that particular idea of Ladybug, she heard what sounded like a knock on the window to her balcony. Understandably startled, Chloe stood up from the sofa in her room and looked outside in a hurry, half expecting someone with sights directly pointed at her to be stood there, ready to burst through the window and level the entire building to the ground to get hold of her.

The relief she felt when she saw it was only Adrien, with a dumb grin on his face, would never be able to be described by words. Although, the desire she suddenly felt to punch Adrien in the jaw for surprising her like that – That was easy for her to describe, and would be even easier to express.

With a huff, the rich girl walked over and slid open the glass door that separated her and Adrien. Once that was out of the way, Adrien greeted her with a simple "Hey."

"Do you find it amusing to try and scare me half to death?"

"Blame your bodyguards. I wanted to just use the stairs like a normal person, but apparently you aren't seeing anyone right now."

"That's probably because of my father. He's become kind of paranoid since… My kidnapping."

Adrien shrugged, and walked past the blond girl into her room, having a look around. Chloe was the only person that Adrien knew who had anything even remotely similar to the lifestyle Adrien had grown up in, and always felt oddly comfortable when surrounded by this sort of furnishing. "Understandable. My dad hounded me for coming to help you too." Turning back around to face her again, he gave her a sympathetic look, understanding how it felt to be isolated through no will of one's own, but he had to make the visit brief. "Sorry, Clo, but I've got places I need to be. Nino told me you wanted to talk, so I thought I'd swing by quickly."

"Right… I just… Wanted to say thank you. Personally." Chloe explained, though in doing so, appeared somewhat flustered. Humility was never a strong point of Chloe's, that much had always been evident to anyone who even knew her slightly. Anyone who had known her for point ten of a second knew she acted like a self-absorbed egotist most of the time, and her showing any sort of humble aspect of her personality was like a sign of the apocalypse.

The display of sudden humility threw Adrien off his game. For a second, he stumbled, now sure what exactly he was supposed to say in response to that statement.

"I uh… What – What're you thanking me for?"

"For saving me." Chloe recounted, acting a bit like a child who was being forced to say they were sorry or grateful for whatever reason by a parent. "I… Appreciate the risks you were willing to go through for me. Really, I do."

It was nice that she wanted to thank him, Adrien considered, but yet… "It's okay… But you shouldn't really be thanking just me, Clo. Everyone did a part to help you out."

"Yes, well… I already thanked Max… And you're the only other person who… Got a permanent scar." The boy's childhood friend reminded him, making her reasoning for wanting to thank him for his role in her saving personally more obvious. A certain level of guilt that she felt for what had happened to him had made its way into her person, and she blamed herself for it, partially, because she was the one for whom that battle had been fought for. Her inability to save herself was the reason her class had had to come after her in the first place, and by extension, why Adrien suffered a huge permanent scar across his chest, and shoulder, while Max had permanent burn marks on his hand.

At the worst of times, Chloe could be considered bossy, rude, self-absorbed and selfish. And those assumptions weren't necessarily misplaced. Chloe did constantly display a large number of these personality traits on a regular basis, and it didn't make it too difficult for people to get the complete wrong idea about Chloe as a person.

Adrien knew that she was a lot deeper than that. She did have morals. She did have a conscious. She did hold her own code of ethics close to hart. The only real differences between her and someone like Marinette were twofold, one of which was the fact that she had a huge amount of personal pride, and the second one being that she was regularly spoiled. These two combined together could add to a personality that gave the impression that she was a lot colder than she really, truly was.

The reality was, Chloe was a good person at heart. Adrien had known this from all of the time he had spent together with her throughout their childhood. Sure, she could be bossy, and he sure didn't approve of some of the ways that she acted when it came to other people, and he was more than willing to step in and stop her when he felt that she was way out of line, but he knew that deep down, despite all of that, there were genuinely good aspects of her still in there.

"Don't worry about the scar." Adrien assured her with a soft smile. "I don't mind it too much. It is what it is, and I don't regret getting it, at all." He decided to change the topic quickly, in an effort to try to help her forget the clear guilt that she was dealing with. "Nino told me about the Academy Clash Tournament. You signing up?"

"I… Probably will do, yeah." Chloe confirmed, nodding her head to confirm her participation. "A lot of the class is taking part. I don't think Max or Sabrina are. Max said his injuries would prevent him from doing well, and Sabrina… Doesn't think she'd be able to do much with just her Mind Reading Trait."

"What're you signing up for then?"

"I guess it's because… I want to see how strong I actually am." Chloe admitted, before responding with a question of her own. "Speaking of being strong… What do you think about Ladybug?"

Blinking a few times at the question, Adrien thought for a few seconds, wondering to himself why Chloe would want to know about Ladybug. When he thought about it, Ladybug had been there when she had been rescued, and to top that off, she had also saved Chloe's life during the entire event. It was natural to be curious about her.

"She seems like she'd be a really strong person. Probably an even stronger Hero. I just wonder why she's chosen to be a Vigilante, and not a professional. You looked like you knew her a bit more than you let on… I'm just curious."

"I've… Met her a few times to be honest." Adrien confessed. As he thought about those times Ladybug had been on the scene, he recalled his fond memories of her, the red and black suited Goddess that he knew all too well. "I know that she isn't some sort of criminal or hooligan like the media likes to say that she is. She's… Really kind, and genuinely sweet. She's brave, and she just doesn't know when to think of herself as opposed to other people… I think that she's just a really good person, whoever she is underneath that mask."

Chloe just smiled. "You sound like you've got a crush on her, Adrikins. Should I be worried?"

"I – I… uh…" Blushing, Adrien made his way back onto the balcony, though he didn't bother to hide the smile he had on his lips. "I think I preferred you when you were just curt with me."

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah. Like I told you, I've got places I need to be, stuff to do." Adrien reminded her. "I'm making the most of my time off. And if father realizes that I'm not home, he'll flip."

"I guess you make a good point." Looking at Chloe now, Adrien knew for a fact she was unlikely to completely change her personality. She would still be as abrasive towards others, insulting them and all, and she'd mean every word that she said to them too. She'd call someone a bitch and she'd mean it every single time. That was just her way. It would take a lot to be able to get her to stop… But Adrien knew that this was the real side of her.

The side of Chloe that he was happy to call his friend. The side he was happy to receive his scar for.

The side he wished that everyone else would be able to see her for. Perhaps someday, when she was ready to put down her guard around other people… Maybe then. But right now – Especially right now – She would keep that guard up like a Roman would a shield to block incoming arrows. It wasn't difficult to understand why…

Maybe one day though, she'd drop that shield. And maybe then, everyone would be able to actually get to know who she really was.

One day.

"I'll be seeing you later then, Clo." Adrien nodded, before leaping off of the balcony and Teleporting away to safety.

* * *

Wasn't it just a sign of the times when the media simply couldn't find a way to spin Ladybug's feats in saving the CFD students from a group of kidnappers in any way, shape or form, to be negative? That they just couldn't report it in any way other than that Ladybug had done a good job.

Marinette couldn't help but smile as she watched the news, still covering the events of the conflict between her class and the Kidnapping Five as more details became public knowledge, including names, events, and who was involved in doing what. Her own name had been broadcast throughout the city, and it hadn't taken long before people in the streets were congratulating and praising her for what they did as they passed her by.

There were news outlets that brought in members of political boards, law enforcement and the likes who opposed Ladybug even in this situation, who tried to spin her actions as a crime, that the Heroes should now be on full alert for the Vigilante, but the excuses they came up with were so weak, only true idiots fell of them.

It was a strange time in Paris. It really was. So much had happened lately, and so much was happening for Marinette herself that she felt a bit overwhelmed at times. Things kept happening, and she was facing more and more challenges before she had even completed previous ones. Before Chloe had been kidnapped, she had been practicing at her conversion abilities of her Conversion Trait. Not to mention, she had recently submitted an application to change her Traits name to Atomic Duplication – This was due to a better understanding of what her power could do. The name "Conversion" didn't explain her power well enough anymore.

Rescuing Chloe had proven to be quite an exercise as well. It had been one hell of a fight, but they had been victorious, even if several people were wounded in the process. Her own wound had already been taken care of, and she didn't really have too much to worry about from it. It had punctured a few layers of skin and sunk into her flesh lightly, nothing that she couldn't fix herself. Adrien was the one who had taken the worst of it out of anyone who had taken part in the rescue. Permanent scars and wounds that would remind him of the even for the rest of his life. He claimed to be fine with it…

But Marinette wasn't.

He smile faded as she remembered seeing Adrien covered in layers of his own blood, standing there like he wasn't even in any pain – Like hell he was okay, like hell it didn't hurt. He'd been reckless enough to get wounded like that… And she'd been too slow to be able to help him.

She blamed herself.

She looked over to her desk, where a single diamond shard still remained, duplicated from weeks ago, the subject of her constant training. Still, she had not yet been able to convert it into a lump of coal yet. She could now duplicate the item, and create coal as opposed to diamonds by altering the levels of pressure her Trait automatically outputted, but the actual item itself refused to turn into the more common resource.

Reaching over, Marinette picked up the precious rock and looked at it, light from her bedroom lamp gleaming through into several different places on the mineral. Very slightly cloudy, it was mostly able to send light straight through its structure and reflect it out the other sides, leading to Marinette accidentally blinding herself for a short few seconds.

Her power was…. So varied, so intricate, so unusual that she didn't fully understand it herself. Total mastery over atoms in the world, it was amazing to her that she had such a power. Even after all this time, her Trait still bewildered her. Sometimes it felt so deep that she would never fully understand all the little sparks of potential within her superpower. That she'd never be able to make the most out of the incredible ability she had been born with.

If she could… Then maybe she would have been able to stop Adrien from being in that fight in the first place. Maybe she would have been able to get over there and stop it before it even began. Captured the Shark Abnormal. Done something to prevent Adrien from taking that scarring hit.

Ladybug was supposed to be a Vigilante Hero who stopped those things from happening… And she hadn't been able to.

She hadn't been able to stop Max from burning himself like that either. She hadn't been able to do anything to save her friends the injuries…

Being a Hero always seemed more romantic than this. The media loved to make things seem so much better than it actually was. They never showed the wounds, the pain, and the injuries that being a Hero caused people to deal with, to suffer and to deal with. Being a Hero was dark work. Brutal work.

But now… She wasn't sure if she could see herself doing anything else.

"Hey, Marinette."

Standing up like a bullet had just gone off, Marinette jumped in surprise, and let out a small yelp. Twisting on her heel as quickly as it would go, and knocking over a few items on her desk carelessly as she did so, she managed to turn around to spot Adrien, perching on the open window frame, with what bordered between an apologetic and a surprised expression at Marinette's sudden actions.

"A-Adrien?!" the blue haired girl stuttered, attempting to avert her eyes anywhere else in the room. She'd gotten better when it came to talking to him directly, but right now she was so caught off guard that she had lost that composure all in one go and was back to her usual wreck of a self.

"You okay?" Adrien questioned with a quirked eyebrow, looking at the Vigilante girl with a worried expression. "Not interrupting you or anything, am I? I could come back later."

"N-No, it's fine!"

"Mind if I come in?"

Freezing at the reminder that she had a wall basically covered in his face that was just slightly out of his view from where he was perched, Marinette shook her head so violently that she thought that she was going to break it for a moment. "The- Th – The Ro – roof!"

"Huh?"

"The roof!" She repeated, although she realized that this meant absolutely nothing to the clearly confused model. She was just shouting out random words, and looking like an absolute lunatic. This didn't do anything to help her evade the already rapidly growing blush on her face. "We roof go to – I mean, we roof can – I mean, Could – Could you meet me on the roof, p-please?"

While the blond teenager looked roughly as one in this situation could expect in this circumstance, a mixture of absolute bafflement and confusion, filled with questions that quite frankly, he wasn't sure if he wanted to answers to or not, he did nod, agreeing to do so. This was her house after all, so she chad the right to decide that sort of thing.

"Uh, sure thing. I'll wait up there." Adrien agreed, before disappearing in a puff of black smoke. Marinette heard his feet land just above her on the roof, she quickly looked around the roof, searching for anything Adrien related.

Tearing down posters and pictures of him, and changing her desktop wallpaper so as to look less suspicious, a thousand thoughts were currently going through her head. The first one being, what in the heck as Adrien doing here, and what was it that he was after? Wasn't he still injured? It had only been a few days since the battle, and he was still suspended from the CFD.

Was it homework or something? No, Nino would have been his go to in that situation. It didn't make a whole lot of sense for him to come to her for that. If he just wanted to talk, Nino again would have been his first choice, Alya probably being his second. He considered Marinette a friend, she knew, and that thought all on its own was enough to make her heart flutter like crazy, but he didn't really have a reason to be here looking for her.

So to put it simply, she had absolutely no idea what it was that he wanted, or why he was even here. Great.

Having made sure everything was just about put away neatly, she sighed lightly in relief that Adrien hadn't come in and noticed her borderline obsession with him. That would have been way more awkward than she was willing to even consider. If he'd seen that, she'd probably just execute herself out of absolute shame!

Using her hands as tiny fans to cool down her burning cheeks, she forced herself to try to calm down as much as possible. It had been a long time since she had really had proper trouble talking with Adrien. As Ladybug, she didn't really have much trouble sassing him and giving him a hard time when he was an absolute moron, but that was much easier when a mask was helping hide who it was that she really was.

Marinette to Adrien, she was restricted to her more awkward parts of her personality, as she struggled to formulate correct words around her crush.

"Calm down, Marinette…" She chimed to herself, mimicking Alya's voice as much as she could. What she would not give for a pep talk from her tan skinned friend right this moment. A part of her was sorely tempted to call her Broadband Trait user friend and get her over here ASAP, but she knew that she'd just get told to get a hold of herself, march up there, and act casual. Like anyone could in this situation. Alya would then hang up the phone and leave Marinette to her own vices. She figured she might as well save time and not bother.

Glancing at her room's trap door to the roof, another part of her was tempted to just crawl up in her bed and hope the situation would defuse itself, but she knew Adrien would just come back in here. What was she even worried about, she wondered? She'd fought villains, stopped a kidnapping, and was being regarded as a Hero, but she couldn't even face one of her classmates – The one who had led said rescue operation to save another one of their classmates! She really was hopeless.

Resigning herself to her fate, she gulped, and made her way up the ladders in her room to the rooftop of her house.

She lifted the trapdoor separating her room and the roof with a heave, letting it swing wide open and hit the concrete of her rooftop balcony with a quiet thud. Poking her head through the hole, she saw Adrien, looking out at the city, watching the cars and pedestrians go by without a word, light bouncing off his rare green eyes and making them shimmer in the sunlight. He had a small smile on his handsome face as he watched his city live and move forward in front of him.

He was wearing his trademarked black tank-top, as he normally tended to do, with his white jacket tied around his waist, leaving it slightly similar to what his Hero costume waist-mounted cape would look like, if a bit more baggy than normal. From this angle, Marinette could still see the scar that he wore along his skin. His skin dipped lightly where the bite marks had landed, darker on the inside of that than anywhere else on his body. Slightly, were they jagged and zig-zagged in their arrangement, running along his shoulder, back, and chest. the stitches had dissolved, and his casting gone. 

"We're training to be Heroes." He suddenly spoke, apparently knowing Marinette was there, causing her to blush, but still listen intently. "So one day, it'll be our job to protect Paris. To fight Villains every day… To look after the people who live in the city." He sighed happily, watching a couple go by, hand in hand, able to do so in total peace.

"Y-Yeah?" Marinette asked, urging him to go on. She climbed out of the hatch in the roof as she did so, and made her way towards him, eager to hear what more he had to say.

Glancing towards her as she approached, Adrien smiled at her, warmly. "I wanted to come by and say thanks, you know, for helping out with Chloe. I know you two don't get along at all… So I think it was really good of you to put that aside and come help."

"I-I didn't do anything…" Marinette lied, looking away lightly. "I didn't even make it to the station with Rose and Juleka… I managed to get myself lost…"

Adrien knew she was lying, that she had put in more effort to save Chloe than anyone else had done… But he couldn't say that to her without giving away that he knew, which he didn't want to. She wanted the stability of being anonymous... At least that's what he thought she wanted. He'd never actually asked… But it wasn't something he could just ask casually in conversation.

"There's more to it than that though." He said, still filled with the same levels of calm and praise he had been. "You and Chloe have been at each other's throats for as long as I've known you. Years, according to you… And you still went to help her. You tried to, anyway. You put your bitterness towards her aside to do the right thing… The Heroic thing…" He looked towards her now, properly showing his smile in full. Wide and full of affection towards the girl he was looking at, that if Marinette was that bit more observant, she might have been able to figure out what he was feeling in that moment. "I really appreciate that, Marinette."

"Th-thank you…" The awkward girl awkwardly accepted. 

"You remember the party we had? At Nino's?" Adrien asked, remembering that night, although it was a few months ago now.

It wasn't a night that was easy to forget, Marinette felt. A lot had happened, even if it was just a dumb party for a bunch of celebrating teenagers. She remembered it very well, right down to the mood from the moment she got there to the moment she left, ears still ringing from the music Nino had been DJ-ing for the five hours they had been there. She nodded, indicating that she did indeed remember that fun night.

"You remember how you asked me if I thought you could be a Hero?" Adrien asked. "Well, I think with what you did during the rescue operation proved that you can be."

"But – But I – "

"Ivan didn't go. Or Mylene, or Nathaniel. They all were too bitter towards Chloe. It's hard to blame them, Chloe has been awful to them… But you of all people should have had the right to say that you didn't want to go help her… But you did." Explained the young teenage model, expressing his admiration of her conviction. "You went to try and help your childhood bully… I can't think of someone I'd rather be a Hero along with."

"I… I still have a long way to go before I'm a Hero…" Marinette admitted. "I don't understand my own Trait at times… I'm still learning everything about it. I still… I still think sometimes I'm out of my league."

"Maybe… But you're still here. You're still trying, aren't you?"

"Mostly because… Now that I've trained… I can't see myself doing anything but being a Hero…"

"Me neither." Adrien agreed. "Have some confidence, Marinette. You're gonna be an awesome Hero someday."

Smiling at his words, Marinette allowed herself to relax and watch the city play out its routines and its actions in front of her, the breathing mass of a Human city doing what it did best – Living and evolving, playing out its role in time. The city she called home. The city that she defended alongside Chat Noir… The city she adored.

She suddenly received a text, which broke the serenity of the scene in front of her. Reaching into her pocket, she read the message, and let out a small gasp in surprise.

It was from Mrs. Chamack. Marinette often babysat her daughter, Manon, who just happened to be the topic of this message.

 _"_ _Marinette, I know you're a busy person with school these days, but is it possible for you to look after Manon for me tomorrow evening?"_ That was more than doable, Marinette had thought to herself, before she saw the part that made her gasp.

_"_ _I would appreciate it if you took her to see a specialist. Her Trait activated today."_


	25. Villain In A Hero's Costume?

Usually, the activation of a Trait was something that called for celebration. It was a sign of the person growing up, and discovering their own identity in a certain sense. Once a Trait was activated, it gave the owner a new lease on life. They had something that was theirs, that made them unique when compared to every other person on the entire planet.

Traits were valued in society. Having yours activate was a bit like a coming of age ceremony.

But at the same time, they could also cause a huge number of issues, and be a bump in the road to getting used to regular living again, depending on the people in the household. It also depended on what sort of Trait was being dealt with in the situation.

Adrien's Trait was an example of one that was absolutely no cause for celebration. Accidents like that were common. Not unheard of in the slightest regards. Some true horror stories came from events like that, such as entire buildings being reduced to piles of ash, deaths and more in a thousand different ways.

Some people just didn't have the time to be able though. Sometimes, careers got in the way of people being able to see their child's Trait development all the way through. It was unfortunate, but it was just a fact of life. Sometimes, things happened that were beyond peoples control.

For someone like Nadja Chamack, this was the case. Being a news reporter with a trait that her company valued in multiple respects, she was a valued resource, one that would find it rather difficult to get free time at the drop of a hat. That was just the way of the world.

Marinette worked with Traits, Abnormality's, and other superpowers on a daily basis thanks to her Hero course work, so she understood this all very well. She understood the way the world worked when it came to dealing with Traits and other powers.

So she didn't mind taking Manon to the Traits Specialist. It was something that had to be done, and she really didn't mind doing it at all. It actually reminded her of the day she was taken there by her father, and the wonder and slight fear she had back then. It was a fond memory. It really was.

Also her parents threw her a little party when she got back. That was fun.

The thing about the activation of a Trait was that for a child, it was often a terrifying experience. Some dealt with it better than others, but a lot of the time, kids were prone to panic. They knew it was a natural part of their life, that they would eventually acquire their own superpower, like their parents had, and that they saw every day in the streets, on the news, in every aspect from storytelling to their favourite TV shows – But nothing could quite prepare them for their bodies to undergo such dramatic changes, to suddenly have a new muscle to explore, and their new abilities to cause destruction, move faster, or some anything else incredible.

It was always a confusing time. Many children reacted with fear, understandably so. Finding out that they could now generate fire out of nowhere, hurt people they didn't want to, engulfing themselves in ice and toppling buildings by accident, how wouldn't it be?

Nadja had described what had happened to Manon as clearly as she could, though it didn't make a whole lot of sense as to what Manon could so. Apparently, according to Nadja, Manon had been able to lift up some kind of doll that she had in her possession, but that was it. She didn't seem to have any control over other objects.

' _Perhaps it's a Telekinetic Trait… Something that lets her move objects with her mind…'_ Marinette considered. Telekinetic abilities weren't an uncommon type of power. Lots of people had that sort of power at their disposal. What didn't make sense was the fact it seemed to be just a doll that she could control. That didn't add up in any way. She'd never heard of a type of power relating to Telekinesis that only targeted specific types of objects not found in the natural world.

Come to think of it, she'd only heard of a very few, rare cases in which a Trait was used to control, manipulate, or generate something that wasn't found in the natural world. One exception to this did seem to be Alya, who she knew very well, but most powers were related to their body, or things that the world had in them already. No Trait she knew could just generate technology, for example. Technology manipulation was just a specific type of Telekinesis when one thought about it.

Exceptions did exist, of course. Again, Alya could manipulate Wi-Fi. It was a rare case.

Perhaps Manon was another such example.

"Marinette?" Manon's unusually quiet voice cut Marinette from her memories of her childhood. The young child had her eyes, widened and showing off her golden brown eyes clearer than they normally were. Clear worry and worry in her gaze. Her tightened grip was a further indicator of the anxiety entering in the young girl's heart right now.

Stopping briefly in the streets, and pulling her to the side, so as not to be in anyone else's way, Marinette knelt down so she was level with the normally energetic and hyper-active girl. She put on a soft, reassuring smile, and kindly asked, "Yes, Manon?"

"What's… What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"You know…" Pressing her fingers together, the child muttered softly. "…Getting a Trait."

"What's having a Trait like?..." Marinette repeated underneath her breath. She took a few moments to consider before she answered. "To be honest with you, I've never really thought about it like something that I got. It's just something that happens to all of us at some point or another. It's a part of you. It's always been a part of you. It's just been a matter of time until you finally figured out how to use it."

"But… What's it like?"

"It depends on what your Trait is… But I've always found mine to be really useful. It really depends on what you want to do." Marinette explained as simply as she could. "It could be that you don't ever need to use your Trait. Or you could use it every day. It just depends on what you want to do."

This answer seemed to reassure Manon, just a little bit. She looked towards the ground and her own hands, in a little bit of wonder and curiosity, and a lot of anxiety and concern as to what it was that her powers really were.

Giving the girl another reassuring smile, trying to calm the butterflies in the child's stomach. "Let's get going to the Trait Specialist, so he can help you figure out what your power is, okay? Then we can talk about it."

"Okay."

And so, the two of them carried on with their walk to the Traits Specialist, re-joining the crowd of people going to and from places during the day. All of them had visual Quirks, and in a society without powers, they might even seem to be monsters. Tails, claws and fangs, horns, third eyes and wings and a million other Quirks. To Marinette and Manon, it was just a normal crowd.

The specialist Nadja had given Marinette was the same one she had gone to visit when she was a child, the one run by Dr. Lezard. It was located fairly close to where Manon lived. It was also on a rather busy district, however, meaning that crowds there were rather dense.

It was also a pretty common area for Villain attacks. One of which was underway at that exact moment.

The main route was blocked off by the police and some Heroes, trying to keep the crowds of onlookers from rushing down into the main road and getting themselves injured or killed by getting too close.

This wasn't a sight Marinette was unused to anymore. Since she worked as Ladybug, and trained as Alchemist during her Hero studies, she had run this drill a thousand times. Seal off the area for at least two – hundred meters in one direction, have a number of Heroes remain by the barricade to defend the citizens if the battle heads over in their direction. That meant a lot of the back roads would also be shut, for public safety.

Further down, she could see a dust cloud, and two Heroes attacking what she assumed was the Villain of this particular battle, using a type of earth based Trait to fight back, collecting balls of heavily condensed mud around their hands, and blasting them into the charging Heroes.

"Wonderful…" Marinette muttered. "Looks like it might take a while longer to get to the Specialist…" In her head, she was thinking of some alternative routes they could take.

"Marinette, pick me up!" Manon excitedly yelled. "I wanna see! I wanna see!"

An eyebrow on Marinette's face quirked. "You're interested in this stuff?"

"Yeah! It's Heroes! Everyone loves Heroes!"

Blinking, Marinette realized that she was just used to seeing this sort of thing. It was the normal for her now. Violence, Villains, Heroes, superpowers and destruction. Not at all what she believed her life would go down like. She never once thought that there would be a point where the repetitive battling and warfare between the Heroes and the villains would be something that she just got used to.

Reaching down, she hoisted Manon up and onto her shoulders so she would be able to see everything that was going on a bit clearer. From this distance, it wouldn't make a difference, there was no real risk of her being hit by some kind of projectile from this far away, so it wouldn't hurt to let her see.

When had Marinette just gotten so desensitized to the dangers of Heroism that the usually exciting street brawls in the city were something that she just skimmed over? To everyone around her, this was the stuff that would be posted on the internet in about three hours that would be watched on loop over and over again. Cocky teenagers would claim that their Traits would have been enough to beat down the Villain, and the elder and wiser would praise the young Heroes who were fighting so vigilantly on the front lines, protecting the citizens from harm.

To Marinette though, this was routine.

She supposed she knew why. The fight against the Feuer Academy kidnappers was indicator enough. She had felt the very real fear that had come from fighting and dealing with people trying to kill or maim her. He knew what was glamorous about being a Hero, and what wasn't.

Still, it wasn't like there was anything else they could do, so she stood there with Manon watching in awe for a short while. Two against one, the Villain here would need to have a ridiculously strong Trait, or be incredibly skilled, otherwise he would eventually be overwhelmed. It was only a matter of time before that happened.

"Marinette, you're a Hero, aren'tcha?" Monon asked, her eyes still glued to the action.

"I'm just a student." Marinette chuckled, peeking over a taller man's shoulders to get a better look at the action herself. "But… I've dealt with a lot of stuff. I've fought people before."

"You never told me what your Trait is."

"Didn't I?" Marinette blinked, certain she had done at some point in the past. Apparently she had forgotten to, or simply assumed that she had. "Mine is Atomic Duplication. It lets me create the same kinds of atoms of those around me if I touch them."

"A Toms?"

"Atoms. They're basically little things that make up everything else around us. Everything is made up out of atoms. People too." Explained the blue haired girl, not even batting an eye when another explosion tore out a window during the battle down the street. It surprised her about as much as a fly right now. "If I touch something, I can duplicate an atom that the object has in it."

"That sounds super cool!"

"It's useful, I guess." The young child's enthusiasm was infectious, and Marinette found herself smiling.

It was a weird thing to think that a Trait was at times, nothing more than a tool for the better use of daily life. Not every superpower on the planet was designed to be put in the hands of a warrior, and even those that were, weren't always in the hands of a warrior. Often times, powerful skills went to those who didn't have a use for them.

Atomic Duplication was one of those, originally. And it was a useful power for someone like Marinette had been before she chose the Hero course.

It took a short while, but eventually, Marinette had been able to pry Manon away from the street brawl going on, and found an alternative route, as provided by the police, Heroes and officers on standby in case the fight grew, but while Marinette and Manon were there, it didn't.

While an additional hour was added onto their journey to the specialists, they did eventually manage to get there, to find the particular street rather empty in comparison to the other ones in Paris, for reasons unknown. Marinette came to believe that the fight was the reason for this, cutting off the main street that accessed to this one had an effect on the traffic of the area.

So they were, as far as they knew, the only people on this pathway, and this entire street. It looked deserted, not even a patrolling Hero or officer to add a small spark of life to the dreary pavements. It almost looked like a war torn city, damages from a previous Villain incursion still present in the middle of the road, char marks and burns that had affected the tarmac.

Nothing like what Marinette remembered. Things changed, as it turned out. The place wasn't in the best light as of this very moment, but she was sure it would be again soon.

Leading her responsibility by the hand, Marinette led Manon towards the specialists building, which remained as clean and as imposing as the blue haired girl remembered. White walls and a white door, it looked like the building itself was completely blank.

Opening the door, MArinette was greeted by a sight she hadn't expected.

Adrien was there, with Shinuya, the Trait Absorbing Vigilante that she and Chat Noir had run into. Shinuya was looking at Adrien's right arm, and the scars he seemed to have suffered recently. The redhead was in a specialist's uniform, which only further inquired to the curiosity of the Atom Duplication User.

"A'ight, just go easy on it for a few days." The Japanese teenager said. "Looks to be healing a lot quicker than anyone expected… Destruction should be okay… Teleportation you mentioned no issues…" He poked at the Hero-in-Training's forearm, like he was testing his wrists for some sort of point. Like a fault in the wiring. "Can't see anything wrong… I think you're good."

"So I can use Destruction again?" Adrien asked, looking at his muscular arm, and his open palm with narrow eyes.

Shinuya shrugged. "Give it a go, and we'll see what happens."

In that very same second, Adrien's right arm encased itself in the charcoal blackness that his combat orientated Trait gave him when activated. Running up to his shoulder, not past his deep scars, almost like they were cut off at that point, but aside from that, his power seemed to have returned to him, and its functionality was, for the most part, looking intact. Thankfully, he hadn't received in injury that would permanently cripple his powers.

He let out a visible sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"Yeah, it looks okay… It might take a few weeks before the blackness goes past your shoulder, but that ain't gonna be much of an issue. It's mostly just a visual effect anyway, so yeah, you're good. The hell did you even do to get that scar, anyway?"

"A fight." Adrien said, simply, throwing back on his jacket with one swift motion. He didn't feel like explaining the injury too much right now. He'd gone over it so many times, he was tired of having to repeat himself. How Shinuya hadn't seen any of the interviews with him on the TV, Adrien had no idea. Perhaps he just didn't watch any TV.

"Could you be more vague – " In that moment, a pair of blood red eyes landed on Marinette only now acknowledging her presence in the building for the first time. Biting his tongue sharply, Shinya cut off his sentence before he said anything more. "Oh, hello, can I help you?"

Marinette had to gulp for a second after seeing Adrien turn around to look at her. What was he doing here?! Obvious answer: A check-up. He must be here to have had some tests regarding his powers after the injury. Presumably he'd already come here, and this was a return routine test. Why here though? He was rich, why the hell was he in a place like this?! He could probably afford to have a private specialist go to his house!

He gave her a small, polite wave and a smile, stepping just out of the way so she could walk up to the desk. Marinette shakily returned the gestures, before taking Manon to the front desk. "I-I have an appointment for this kid. Manon Chamack."

The teenager tugged at his black highlight and looked down a list on his computer behind the desk. "Reason for the appointment?"

"Her Trait activated just recently."

"Neat." Shinuya smirked. "I love those." He hit a few more keys on his computer set up, typing with an impressive speed for someone only using one hand, before he looked up at the blue haired girl. "Yeah, we aren't too busy today. Dr. Lezard'll be free, just go right ahead. Second door on the left, just down there."

"Th-Thanks." She turned to look at Adrien, who was still smiling at her. His gaze then went down to Manon's, who he tried to give a look of reassurance. Marinette nodded in gratitude, and pulled on Manon's hand incredibly lightly. "Come on, Manon, let's go."

"Okay."

"Have fun, kid." Shinuya commented as the two of them made their way down the corridor. "This is gonna be a good day for ya!"

Once they were gone, he sighed.

"Wish someone had told me that when Destruction activated." Muttered Adrien sadly, remembering that day way too well for his liking. He shuddered at the memory, wishing he _could_ repress it. "Anyway, I need to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait." Shinuya suddenly snapped out, standing up past his seat, and looking Adrien in the eyes. "We need to talk now, _Chat_. This is really freaking important."

* * *

 

The Vigilante boy, Tasuka Shinuya, worked as a specialist as well as an Elite course student at the CFD? That impressed Marinette, if nothing else, that he manged to juggle those activities that well. He seemed to be a master of multitasking, though given his Trait, it was fairly appropriate really. Was he working here to acquire new powers to work with? That would make a lot of sense. He'd come into contact with new superpowers every day, which gave him a higher statistical chance to permanently absorb them.

Or was there some other reason he was working here? Maybe he just needed money. But if he did, he was one damn qualified kid then, working in a medical profession outside of school hours.

Did he think that Villain Hawkmoth could possibly have a connection to this place? Was that what he thought?

"Hrmm…" Dr. Lezard hummed, looking over Manon's hands for some signs of alteration, like finger pads, he had said.

He hadn't aged a bit since Mairnette had last seen the friendly doctor. Still as reptilian as she remembered him to be, scaly, yet more a bulky frame to him than previously. He still was friendly as he was, even recognizing Marinette from when she was a patient there, and hearing of her accomplishments on the news. He had expressed surprise that the timid girl he had diagnosed was now a Hero in training, but said he also had a feeling her power could have been used for Heroism.

Right now though, he didn't seem to know what to do with Manon.

"Have you found anything?" Marinette asked, patting Manon's head to keep her calm.

"Well, there are no visual Quirks yet, so that makes things a bit trickier…" the doctor said, biting one of his nails with his sharpened teeth. He smiled at the young girl. "Don't worry though, we'll figure out what's going on. Say, Marinette, you said her Trait seemed to let her control objects?"

"I didn't ever actually see the Trait in action…" Confessed the young Hero. "I just heard that from her mother."

"I see…" Kneeling down so he was face level with Manon, the reptilian man asked in as kind a voice as he could, "Manon, dear, you must remember what happened when your trait activated. Could you describe it to me please?"

The young girl shifted, clearly uncomfortable. It was a natural response, especially with Traits. They were such a precious yet terrifying thing to everyone on the planet. So unknown and yet so personally close to home. there wasn't a child on the planet who enjoyed talking about thins like this. Even the ones who had been so excited to get their powers found themselves stuttering like fools when it came time to be inspected for their powers functionality. 

"Um…. I was… Playing with my dolls… And… I wanted to pick one up and it… Just… Became floaty?"

Sighing, Lezard nodded. "Okay, I understand, but that doesn't help… I think I have an easy solution though." Reaching for a phone from within his white coat, he pressed a few keys and then held the device to his head. "Beru, I need you in diagnosis room two. I can't make heads or tails of this one… Yep… Yes… Okay, see you in a few moments." Putting the device down, back into his pocket, he looked at the two girls in his room and smiled. "One of my part-time workers is on her way. She's usually rather busy, but I promise you she will be able to figure out what your Trait is."

Quirking an eyebrow, Marinette had to wonder – How on earth was a part timer supposed to be more effective at doing a doctors job than the doctor himself? Wasn't that supposed to be the other way around?

"A part timer?" She asked, curious as to the answer she would receive.

"Ah, yes." Lezard smiled once more. "Beru's a miracle worker here. I'm hoping she'll decide to work here full time once she leaves the CFD. It's unlikely, but it would be nice if she did decide to stay. I think she must have worked with you a bit, Marinette."

"She's a CFD student?"

"A Valor Course member, if I remember correctly. Her Trait is worth its weight gold here."

Before another question could be asked, the door to the room suddenly flung open, revealing a rather plan looking female with long, dark brown hair. Adorned in the medical white outfit that all doctors were supposed to wear. The most distinguishing fact about her were her eyes. They looked silver, but on closer inspection, they were far more unique.

They were in fact reflective. Like mirrors. Her sclera and pupils were normal, but her silver irises were like mini-mirrors that perfectly reflected anything light shone towards her. Additionally, they were very large eyes, far larger than the average persons, only further outlining this feature.

"A new Traits been activated?" She asked, looking at everyone in the room, and talking at the speed of a bullet train. "Little girl seems to be the right age so I assume it's her. Good to see you little girl but what say we get right down to business and figure out what we're working with?"

Before Manon or Marinette even had time to answer the questions, the assistant bounced over to the young girl and tapped her forehead, without even waiting to ask permission, before then leaping back and inspecting her hands.

"Ahh, I see! A unique ability in itself of course but I don't see entirely how this would occur in the natural world. Other individuals unlikely to remain still. Creation of own sources possible but limited. Perhaps mannequins are a good method of testing the vitality of the Trait in question provided we have some spares in the building though finding new ones shouldn't – "

"Beru." Lezard said in a slightly loud and firm voice. His single use of her name silenced her instantly, her eyes bouncing off of her palms and right back onto the reptilian man. "You're scaring the patient."

It was very clear Manon was uncomfortable with the machine gun fire of words, many of which she didn't understand in the first place, being shot out at such a rapid rate that she could barely understand any of them. Marinette even felt slightly intimidated by this bombastic person, who didn't seem to understand the need to process oxygen between sentences spoken.

After a flurry of blinks, the young assistant nodded. "Apologies. I have acquired the Trait now, and am ready to demonstrate it whenever ready."

"Acquired?" Questioned Marinette, looking at the girl with an odd scowl. "What do you mean by that?"

"That's my Trait." Beru responded quickly. "I copy other Traits."

Beru Torekopi - Trait – Copy - Beru has a Trait that allows her to copy another individuals Trait temporarily. In order to activate this Trait, she had to make physical skin contact with her opponent, or be directly hit by the opposing Trait. When she copies a Trait, it usually lasts for about twenty to thirty minutes, varying randomly, even if it is the same Trait she is copying. She can then use the same Trait that her opponent has. The drawbacks to this Trait are apparent – The Trait does not defend her from damage, and it she does not learn how to use the Trait with its activation, meaning that she has to learn how to use the ability she has copied by experimentation.

Suddenly, it made a lot more sense as to why this student, young as they were, had a job in somewhere as high end as a Trait Specialists. Such a Trait would be invaluable in this sort of situation, and would dramatically shorted the time needed to identify a Trait of some sort. Beru must be a busy person if her power is used for that sort of thing, which was why, despite being better than Lezard at identifying Traits, she was only a part time assistant.

"What are we working with?" Lezard asked, his tail rising into the air as he spoke.

"High levels of concentrated energy expelled from the fingertips that react with the environment. Specifically speaking about five pronged items with high levels of flexibility. Mannequins, for example."

"What?"

"Based on what I have gathered this girl has a Trait that allows her to control mannequin like non-sentient items. Essentially she can control non-living dolls."

* * *

 

"Hawkmoth is going to make a move soon."

Alleyways were favoured spots for secret meetings for Vigilantes. Few prying eyes, quiet surroundings, and next to no one would come down these. Alleyways were the homes of the crooked and the Villains, muggers and psychopaths.

For Vigilantes, those risks were negligible, in favour of retaining their anonymity.

Adrien, however, looked at Shinuya with a quirked eyebrow, unsure of what he was expected to do with this just freshly bestowed information. Nothing had changed as far as the blonde was concerned, regarding Hawkmoth. The fact of the matter was, he'd still never met the man, so he was not under any sort of impression regarding the supposed Villain. No unbiased sources had come forth and given a totally neutral statement. All were either condemning, or absolutely spotless.

The supposed evil masterminds name didn't even appear in any official Hero Villain Registries – Essentially a Villain wanted list. If a name and or an alias showed up in there, then it was a safe bet to make that they were a genuine Villain. If it wasn't on there, then there were two options. Option one was that they hadn't been officially documented yet.

Option two was that they weren't a Villain at all. That the traitors were just targeting this guy for whatever reason, giving him a code-name to hide his actual identity until it was too late. 

The second option was what was making Adrien anxious about this entire affair. He had no intention, none whatsoever, of getting involved with the Traitors group if it was targeting someone who wasn't even a Villain.

That all being said, he did search the official Hero Registration form, and found no records of Hawkmoth being a Hero wither, at least not in France or Europe. So the worst case scenario was them targeting someone in power who was neutral in the Hero-Villain conflict.

"Okay… And what move is this?" Adrien questioned, looking over at Shinuya with his green eyes narrowly scanning over the Japanese boy's entire figure.

"We have no real idea." The Trait Absorber admitted. "I just got told that one of our guys heard something about Hawkmoth planning something. We haven't got a clue why or when, but we've alerted the Heroes, and we're patrolling pretty often ourselves. We think that he might have recruited a few more street gangsters, and one of those kids from Feuer that you fought."

At this accusation, Adrien's eyes widened slightly. Kyoyu was the only person in that event who was still unaccounted for, so it had to be him. "It has to be the Forced Activation guy then. Everyone else is accounted for."

"Thought as much…. It's still a 'What is' though." Shinuya folded his arms and nodded, tilting his neck slightly onto his left side. "But either way, we think that something big is gonna go down in the next week or so."

"I still don't quite know what this has to do with me." Adrien bluntly stated, scratching his head. "I'm not a Traitor. I'm not in your group, I'm not –" He paused for a moment. "Okay, look, your groups name is really confusing, so I'm just going to call you a gang for now. Your gang and I haven't even been in contact for the last few weeks. Ladybug and I haven't seen you, and I've been sort of busy licking my wounds. What is it you're after?"

Shinuya blinked. He didn't seem to have expected such blunt statements from Adrien, correct as they were. The last time he'd spoken to Adrien, he had been willing to hear him out at least for a while. Now he seemed to be in more of a rush, like he was… "You've… Changed, you know."

"How so?"

"You're kind of darker. A bit edgier. Like you just got back from war or something." Shifting a bit, putting his weight onto his right leg, Shinuya then looked at Adrien, straight in the eyes. "You're acting like you want a fight."

Being out of the fight for so long, Adrien did admit, he had a lot of energy he wanted to expel. Like a bungee cord, he was ready to release it all in one big move, and unleash hell. He'd grown accustomed to fighting. He'd grown to sort of like it at this point. Like it was a part of him now. His scar was proof enough that he was able to fight. That was partly why he wore it with pride.

"I'm a Vigilante, Adrien. You are too." Shinuya said, not really elaborating on what he wanted from the rich boy. "We walk on a very fine line. We're Heroes in our hearts, but the world sees us as Villains. So when we get injured, the only person we have to fall back on is ourselves, or our groups. But there's one thing that stands out about you."

Suddenly, Shinuya's eyes made direct contact with Adrien's.

"You're dark inside."

Adrien gulped. Was this still Shinuya? This seemed far too sharp and tactful to be the friendly helpful boy he knew. He felt intimidated all of a sudden. Like he was outclassed, outmatched. His hands balled up into fists.

Still, Shinuya pressed towards, taking small steps towards him. "You have a dark past, and you're still haunted by that. It's understandable I suppose… But I'm not sure I buy the act."

"The act?..." Without even thinking, Izuku felt Destruction begin to spread up his arms, and his fingers stiffen, ready to throw a slap or a hook if it came down to a fight between the two Trait users whom each held various abilities within their bodies. His teeth gritted, and he glared back at Shinuya. "What the hell are you talking about – "

"You're the kind of person who could end up becoming a Villain someday."

That made Adrien flinch, very clearly. His muscles suddenly relaxed out of nothing more than having been surprised by the words spoken to him, like a slap to the face done verbally.

"This whole friendly rich boy scam you've got going on." Shinuya said, making sure eye contact between them never ceased. "I find it hard to accept that someone who killed their own mother can be so positive all the time. I figure that you'd also find it pretty hard to make any friends, yet you seem to be Mr. Popular."

"I would – I'd never become a Villain!" Adrien yelled back fiercely. His entire life had been in pursuit of the opposite, of being a Hero! He had focused on that since he was four, he knew what it was that he wanted to do! He wasn't evil!

He wasn't the type of person to become a Villain! That was an idea he refused outright! Everything he'd done in his entire life was dedicated to the pursuit of fighting Villains to make up for what he'd done to his own mother, he had never wanted to hurt innocent people with his superpowers!

"Most people don't call themselves Villains. They call themselves Heroes. Hawkmoth would probably tell you he's a Hero." Blood suddenly seeped from Shinuya's hand, hovering in front of him. "The person I got this from would probably tell you he was a Hero. He was a complete scumbag, but he'd tell you he was a good guy. The title of Hero is all based on perspective." The Vigilante allowed the blood he controlled to hover far closer to Adrien, almost like a knife. "But the title of Villain? That's a far easier, cleaner definition to bestow onto someone. People who break the law. People who bring harm to others. People who use their powers to get whatever it is they want. Exactly what you use yours for, that's something I have to wonder. Heroes fight Villains, sure, but Villains also fight other Villains. The way you act, I sometimes have to wonder if you're just a Villain hiding in the uniform of a Hero. I've seen this happen way too many times."

"I'm not a damn villain." Adrien responded, forcing himself to remain as calm as he could, despite feeling the urge to Teleport and smack Shinuya right in the face. "I have no intention of becoming a Villain. I don't even particularly want to kill anyone. I don't know what exactly is making you act like this, but I'm not going to join your gang if this is how you and your buddies act."

"' _The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing_.'" Shinuya quoted. "Some guy said that a while ago. Can't for the life of me remember his name, but he had the idea perfectly correct."

"Kind of hard for me to acknowledge that while you've practically got a knife to my neck."

"You can Teleport away any time. The only reason you're still here is because you want to be." The blood red eyed boy said, before sighing. "Look, this whole Hawkmoth situation has us all stressed out. We can't be everywhere at once, and we're running out of time. We need help. That's what I'm asking here."

As a show of pacifism, Shinuya retracted the blood he had outside his body, and pulled it right back into his body. Adrien allowed himself to slightly relax, though he was still on edge after everything that happened. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be some sort of apology or not. He wasn't even sure if he wanted an apology at this point. 

"Your gang isn't trustworthy, at least not to me yet." He said, rubbing the point where the blood had been pressed against very lightly. "I don't know enough about you, and I've never even heard of Hawkmoth from anyone aside from you. I've looked and searched, and there's nothing that even suggests his existence. It'd be one thing if there was at least an online forum, but his name is a complete blank on every official source I've looked at. I'm not joining your group, and I refuse to let Ladybug join your group, when we don't even had a shred of evidence worth considering to believe you."

"I get that concern, I really, honestly do." Shinuya sighed, muttering something in Japanese before he turned to look at Adrien again. "That communicator I gave you, you still got it?"

"Yeah. I keep it on me everywhere I go." To prove the point, Adrien reached into his jackets pocket, and produced the device given to him. Just a small piece that would be sensitive to sounds, so Adrien would be able to speak without the need for an obvious microphone.

"If you see something, just… Let us know. That's all I'm asking of you here." In a true traditional display of honour befitting that of the ancient country he descended from, Shinuya bowed in a sign of both respect and plight. "Anything, anything at all, it'd be a great help. We'd make sure you were compensated, I swear it."

For a moment, Adrien just stared at the sight in front of him, before sighing. "Sure. I'll let you know. I'll talk to Ladybug the first chance I get I'll let her know we spoke." An image of Marinette came into his mind, and suddenly he felt a bit concerned that she was still in the building Shinuya worked in. But then, he relaxed. If Shinuya knew Ladybug was Marinette, he wouldn't have bothered speaking to Adrien, since he knew Chat Noir was loyal to Ladybug, and would follow her basically anywhere.

But yes. He would tell the Traitor gang if he saw anything related to Hawkmoth. He'd make sure that they knew.

And if Hawkmoth turned to to be an innocent, or a good person, and the Traitors were trying to bring harm to an innocent man…  If the Traitors were actually just a group of evil thugs, masquerading as Heroes... 

Adrien would kill every one of them.

* * *

 Manon Chamack – Trait – Puppet – Manon possesses the strange ability to produce cable-like connective wires made of pure energy from her fingers, from which she can control objects like mannequins. Her Trait can be used against people, but to limited degrees of effectiveness, and can mostly be used as a way of disarming opponents. If an object has no sentience to it, Manon can completely control that object, and make it move exactly like the real life equivalent would move, essentially giving her access to her own immortal army. The links cannot be forcibly severed, but if Manon is injured of knocked out, the trait will automatically deactivate. Additionally, it also relies on how much energy Manon has in her body. If she is exhausted, her powers cannot activate.

All of this had been learned from Beru who had taught Manon how to more efficiently user her unique powers through use of her own, and now, an hour later, Manon was gleefully testing out her new abilities by moving some of small wooden figures that artists used for drawing reference, making them walk and jump, like she was putting on a puppet performance of some kind from behind a closed curtain.

Watching the smile that Manon now had on her face wasn't an unusual sight for Marinette to see. It was a sign she was okay, but in the situation where a child first learned what they would do and how to use it safely, that was usually when they stopped being scared of their own powers. That was when they began to be comfortable with their Traits, and began to experiment with them, like Manon was right now.

The Hero course often told stories about children who ran amok with their superpowers when they still didn't know what to do with them, and that they were some of the most difficult people to take down. Not because of their powers, not necessarily, but because no one wanted to hurt a child. Parental instincts kicked in, and sometimes, the Heroes couldn't bring themselves to harm someone so young.

There was no risk of that happening to Manon though. She knew how to use her powers now. She was fine.

She was safe. All that she needed now was time, to learn the full extent of her powers, and learn what it was that she wanted to do with them. Powers like hers were very rare, not like Pyrokinetic or Teleportation Traits.

Or Marinette's own Trait for that matter. Every one of the world's people had a power that was unique to them. Their powers, their own way of working. Everything and everyone on this planet had a unique Trait.

And that never became more apparent than when someone's Trait activated for the first time.

Marinette couldn't help but smile herself.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry its been such a while - Turns out writing five stories, and planning a sixth, isn't the smartest idea in the world, but even that aside, I've been pretty ill and stressed lately. I say ill, it's a long time thing, but only now am I doing something about it. Regardless, I am trying to get out chapters whenever I can, because I love hearing from you guys what you liked about the story, and what criticism you have for it ^_^ 
> 
> Adrien is indeed intentionally being taken down a darker path, and it's not gonna get lighter anytime soon. trust me, we've got us some angst waiting for us in the near future. >: ) 
> 
> I'm trying to tone back on the OC's, so I'm making them more background characters more than anything. The Villain OC's will still be prominent - Because lets be honest, without them, this isn't gonna be a very interesting story, but OC's will still be around... Just not as much. I've learned my lesson regarding that. So please don't take it personally if your OC isn't showing up as much. I promise you they will get their time to shine.  I love this community we've got going, with you guys and your theories and thinking and trying to guess whats happening, and I'm sat here with a grin, all knowing. Makes writing this story an absolute blast ^_^
> 
> At any rate, I do hope you enjoyed, and Ill see you next chapter ^_^ 


	26. Hawkmoths Assault - Invasion Arc

"It's time to begin the operation." Hawkmoth declared to his first three lieutenants, Fragman, Wipe-Out, and Ree Harland, who was using the codename Orchestrator. The operation, his first plan, was about to go ahead by his orders, and he required his top commanders to relay the news to what subordinates that he had under his wings.

The plan had been in place for the last few weeks, documented and checked again and again for any hiccups that might occur, from the Heroes intervention, to the acts that could take place depending on the number of people they had with them. About fifty or so Villains worked under Hawkmoth, which gave him a miniature army of fighters he commanded.

It would be plenty for this attack.

The goal was very simple. So simple, that it was as basic as it got.

It was to acquire more power.

An instant grin made its way onto Fragman's already parted lips, showing off his yellow teeth, as a series of explosions rippled upon his muscular arms. His red irises and yellow pupils seemed to glow in what could only be described as childish glee. "Finally! We get to let loose, right? Use our Traits however we want?"

"Without exception."

An even larger pair of detonations occurred from Fragman's palms. He really did remind Ree of a child who just got told that they were about to go out to Disneyworld. His love, and insatiable desire for violence was something that honestly did scare practically every single member of Hawkmoths forces. "Hell yes!"

"Calm down, Psycho." Wipe-Out commented flatly, before he looked towards his boss with a neutral expression. "So, what're the targets? Anyone we need to be particularly aware of? Anyone we want? Anyone we want dead?"

"As I said, open engagement. Capture who you can alive, but I shan't hold you accountable for any deaths that you have to cause." The Villain responded, inspecting his right hand after removing his glove. As he did so, his palm glowed with his own powers activation, before it dimmed and simmered out into nothingness, returning to its natural colours. "Obviously though, if you do nothing but kill… Then I'm not going to be pleased. At all. We need them alive first. After that, then it's down to you." He then turned his head towards Ree, his light blue eyes peering over his silver balaclavas eye holes. "Orchestrator, I want you to inform Trigger that he is to remain by my side throughout the duration of this operation. I feel his powers may come in useful to me, depending on if the correct individuals appear."

Trigger, the newest member of the Villains Hawkmoth commanded. Certain influences had persuaded Kyoyu Oement into joining, Ree knew, but ultimately, his hatred must have been so strong in the first place, that all Hawkmoth had needed to do was push him in the right direction. He was committed to Hawkmoths group now, and there wasn't much that could be done, even if she wanted to do something.

He was a Villain now, despite his previous desire to be a Hero.

"I'll do that right away." Ree nodded, before leaving to enter the room. With a flick of her wrists, the door flung open for her, and with another flick in the opposite direction, it shut behind her, this time gentler, so it didn't slam shut.

Once she had left, Hawkmoth looked between Fragman and Wipe-Out, and leaned back into his seat. "Fragman, I want you leading the initial charge. Wipe-Out will be going along with you, and if he deems that your actions will jeopardise to objective, he is to use his own powers to nullify yours until you have calmed yourself."

"Understood." Wipe-Out nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets and glancing towards Fragman, waiting to see his reaction.

The Powderkeg Trait user spat on the floor, but he didn't protest. Wipe-Out smirked, glad to have some authority over his psychopath teammate. Now that he had some say in who and what Fragman could blow up, he might actually be able to complete his tasks without killing his targets for once.

Though a certain level of fear did exist in the British Villain regarding Fragman. He was unstable, a ticking time bomb, and a literal bomb at that. He wouldn't put it past the maniac to just obliterate the entire building on a whim if he felt the bloodlust-driven urge.

Telling him to stop while he was on a rampage… Could have bloody repercussions.

"Understood." Fragman finally acknowledged. His visual Quirk, his yellow pupils, glanced right towards Wipe-Out, as if to dare him to try to stop him. Like he was telling his partner to stay the hell out of his way, lest he wanted to wind up with a hole in his chest, and a searing burning layer instead of skin.

Wipe-Out gulped.

"Very well then." Hawkmoth said, getting out of his seat and standing upright. His silhouette, caused by the dim window that let in very little light, moved to look out of said window, and watched silently for a few moments as cars and people passed by their base of operations, completely unaware that an army of Villains resided right there. "Go and tell Lightningate to prepare himself. King Subjugate is leading the second wave, after you, Fragman. Anyone that he controls, you are not allowed to kill until I've seen them."

"Aye aye." Fragman muttered, before turning to leave the room, breaking into a small pace as he left. No doubt eager to start his killing spree.

Never before had Wipe-Out met anyone so downright sadistic and battle crazy. Wipe-Out had seen a lot of maniacs in his time. Powerful Traits tended to do that to people. Minds incapable of comprehending or disciplining themselves to the level of power that their bodies were capable of outputting. Where he had grown up, surrounded by people who had such powers, his own had come in useful. He'd been the mediator in his neighbourhood, and had dealt with many people who would terrifying even some of the most veteran of Heroes.

But Fragman was one of the few people he'd ever met who he actually felt threatened by.

"Freakin lunatic." The Suppression Trait user shuddered. "You are about him being in charge of the first batch, sir? He'll probably kill his entire unit himself."

Nodding, Hawkmoth acknowledged Wipe-Out's question. "He may be impulsive, but he's young, and has a lot of talent. His Trait is an extraordinarily powerful one at that, and it's worth remembering that unless he is able to express the violent urged he keeps repressed, he could very well turn on us. Refined, he could be a valuable weapon."

"Refined isn't really the word I'd use to describe him, all respect due Hawkmoth. I swear the guy's gonna kill me at every other step he friggin' takes."

"Regardless of your feelings towards him, my decision stands." Hawkmoths voice became sharper, more abrasive than before, as he snapped at his first ranking officer, essentially his second in command. "Sunstreak would have been the first choice, but he's been taken into custody. Until we can formulate a rescue strategy to reclaim the fool, Fragman is taking his place. As such, he will be on the frontlines, no exceptions or excuses. Go and prepare the airship."

The first part of the plan was finally coming into play. It had taken years to get this far.

If that Traitors vigilante group acted how Hawkmoth had predicted, then his own powers would be magnified to an incredible level.

The only to stop him from that point would be to cut his hands off.

* * *

One more leap, another Teleport, and Adrien was at his objective, with barely thirty seconds to spare. His Hero costume, drenched in sweat, and his breathing ragged like crazy, he skidded by the nearest door, followed in tow by Nino and Kim. Their objective was to breach the door and rescue the hostages, while causing as little property damage as possible, and if possible, taking out the villains inside.

They had thirty seconds left, but they could still do this. With Adrien's ability to Teleport, his natural skill, all that Kim and Nino needed to do was keep the Villains away from him, and they'd be able to pull this off with just a few seconds to spare. But they couldn't hesitate. If they wanted victory, the needed to do this right now.

No holds barred. No holding back.

"Stack up!" Nino called out, rerunning through the many drills that they had practiced throughout their training.

Stack up was a standard breaching procedure. One member at both sides of the door, and one third person on another side who would normally lay a charge to break the door down. Due to Traits though, and theirs especially, a charge wasn't needed. Each of them possessed destructive enough a Trait to blast the door off its hinges with power equivalent to that of a detonation charge anyway.

It was an old military tactic that Heroes had adopted after the Trait War.

Kim and Nino weren't on demolition duty. Their powers could cause serious damage to their target, and if they did that, all hell would have to be paid. Adrien's Destruction Trait was best for that one then, by destroying the hinges off the door, and then letting someone else kick the door in. Once inside, Kim and Nino could unleash their powers, since they would be able to accurately select a target to unleash hell upon, while Adrien would get in, get the target, and get out.

Activating Destruction, Adrien quickly sliced off the hinges of the door with a spear-tipped strike, his hands flat and fingers rigid like a knife, as he stabbed each of the metallic hinges and eradicating them into nothingness. As he did so, he called out his actions. "Breaching!" And with a huge throw of his right leg, he kicked the door down, before jumping back to allow his ranged combat orientated friends to charge in before him.

Nino went in first, water from the vapour around him now circulating his palms, and fired towards someone on the inside as soon as he entered the dark room, trying to push away a target that he could already spot. Kim followed suit, pooling lava in his left palm, and charging up his right gauntlet, ready to unleash it if he had to – Though he would certainly not want to. Not after what happened to Max.

As per the plan, Adrien waited five seconds for the breaches to push back anyone who might be defending the hostage, and then Teleported right into the fray. Instantly, he saw what he could quickly identify as concrete rapidly generating towards him, and in response, he activated his Destruction Trait and balled his hand into a fist. Throwing a strong reverse punch, Adrien met the incoming rock head on, destroying the atoms are they were created. His power was useful against generation type powers, which worked like building blocks. He could obliterate them as quickly as they were generated, rendering the result as a stalemate.

He had ten seconds left.

Pushing back by throwing a series of front and reverse punches, alternating from right to left, right to left, he began to take small steps forwards at a rapid rate, destroying his incoming attackers powers as they came in, before he finally got a lock on his target.

A strand of blue hair was all Adrien needed to triangulate Marinette's position.

Another Teleport later, Adrien was behind her, and reaching to grab her by the shoulder and pull her aside to render her inactive, for just a second, so he could complete his objective. Internally, his conflict on doing this to Ladybug seriously tempted him to throw the match, before he decided that actually, she needed to prepare for anything if she wanted to be a strong Vigilante, a strong Hero – She had to react to the unexpected.

To attacks from behind.

So he struck.

All their class had always agreed, any blows or strikes that were exchanged between them, they were all fair. They were training to become Heroes, and to do that, they needed to be proficient in combat. Getting a good tolerance for the pain from being hit was also essential. Villains wouldn't care that they were kids, boys, girls, intermediaries, sick, ill, frail, or whatever. They were all made equal by the battlefield.

So Adrien didn't feel too bad about this.

Not too much.

Reaching with his left hand, he grabbed hold of Marinette's shoulder and tugged her back, throwing her off balance instantly. Green eyes met blue, as Adrien threw his right fist, square aimed right to connect with her left cheek. Perfectly placed, it would do a nice hefty chunk of damage to her, and probably stun her for a few precious seconds.

' _Sorry, M'lady!'_ Adrien thought as the smack hit. A small smirk did make its way onto his lips as he felt the strike connect. The momentum was solid, and it felt like a good hit.

Or it would have, if Adrien didn't suddenly feel like he'd just hit a rock.

A huge throbbing pain shot up his arm and to his torso, which caused him to retract it and let out a sudden harsh pain through his pursed lips. What the hell had just happened to him?! He was certain he'd managed to hit Marinette, and he'd thrown a thousand punches in his life, he knew how to throw one without hurting himself too badly.

When he looked back to Marinette, his green eyes widened.

Her skin was _black_.

Like coal, it seemed exclusive to her face, and it was almost like some sort of shield that she was wearing underneath the most visible layer of her skin. It was like a bolder of skin, hardened to withstand physical damage, or at the very least, a physical strike.

"Argh!" Adrien hissed, glancing towards his hand and gripping his pained knuckles. "What the hell?..." He was already thinking up retaliatory strikes that involved his left hand and Teleport-based kicks to weaker spots. Answers could come later -

"And that's time up!" The announcement bell declared, Fuel Tank's lacklustre voice once again ringing throughout the fake city that the students used to train.

Marinette, Ivan and Sabrina had been the victors of this particular exercise, and Adrien and his team had lost, due mostly to the way Marinette had caught Adrien off guard. The lights in the building suddenly came on, removing the ambient air to the scene, and making line of sight clear. The dummy that was being used as the hostage was in the corner of the room, tied to a chair that Nino had been trying to keep Ivan away from, the Terrakinetic using the minerals around him to try and keep the Hyrokinetic away.

Letting out a sigh, Marinette could almost feel herself collapse to the floor. "That was way too close…"

"Damn, Mari..." Adrien said, opening and closing his right hand repeatedly, trying to get the feeling back into his limb. His left hand was wrapped around his right wrist as he did so. Each one of his motions tensed his chest muscles, showing the scar he had stitched across his chest clearer to anyone who paid closer attention to it. "What was that?"

"It's a… Technique I've been practicing." Explained the conversion Trait user, her face suddenly returning to its natural shade in patches, before it was back to normal within a few moments. "I've been practicing converting atoms…"

"I saw it from my position." Kim spoke up, walking over to pat Mairnette on the back. "Neat trick."

"Thanks… I still haven't mastered that part of my power yet, but I've been able to turn at least the outer layer of my skin into a carbon-based shield." Marinette went over, looking at her palm as she did so. As she spoke, the skin on her hand became darker as she activated her Trait. "I spoke to a specialist last week because I was there with a kid I babysit, and they recommended practicing on my own body as opposed to foreign objects. Something about it being easier for my power to understand my own biology… But, it worked."

"So you can turn your skin into a stronger carbon than it's already based on?" Questioned Adrien with a smile. He remembered seeing her at the specialists when he went to get his Destruction Trait checked on. He hadn't suspected that she was going to ask about her powers while she was there, but it made a lot of sense. "That's an awesome use of your power! That gives you so much defensive capability!"

It was basic chemistry from what Adrien understand. The Human body was made out of primarily carbon, and it made up a third of the body. Carbon could be turned into many substances, from rocks to diamonds, and Marinette's Trait allowed her alter carbon, and she could now use it to turn her skin into a defensive carbon layer. Like a shield.

" _You gonna hang out there all day?"_ Fuel Tank's voice rang out from the megaphones around the city, re-catching the attention of the students from complimenting Marinette's new move and back onto the lesson that they were in. _"Get back to the training grounds, stat!"_

Realizing that they had all just basically ignored the initial command to return due to them all congratulating Marinette and her newfound special move. They all did have a small chuckle before they all grabbed hold of Adrien's shoulders, and he Teleported them all right back to their training teacher.

* * *

The week that Adrien had been absent for had been spent on him training his body for practices sake. He needed to make sure that his body was toned and muscular, so he could make the most out of his powers when he needed them the most. The doctors had told him to go easy on his body, to allow it to heal as quickly as possible, but Adrien hadn't been able to. He'd needed to be active during that week's suspension. So much was going on, so much was on his mind, that sitting still was just a complete impossibility.

After the kidnapping incident had ended, Adrien had been following the reports regarding Kyoyu, the only kidnapper who was still not accounted for a week later. It was surprising and worrying to the blond teenager that the Forced Activation Trait user had just somehow managed to disappear off the face of the planet. It did nothing to relax Adrien's mind, with the worry that their assailant could come to attack them at any time again.

As Chat Noir, he and Ladybug had been on the lookout for the French-Japanese teenager, looking for him in any area they could think of. Ladybug had brought up that Chat hadn't been there to help her fight the kidnappers with the CFD. He'd managed to make her believe that he hadn't been aware of the incident because he was on the other side of town.

None of that was what the biggest issue was though. At least, not on a personally affecting level for Adrien.

His father had revealed that he was going to be busy for the next few days, and that he and Ree would not be around the mansion for quite a while, which meant he was essentially being left in the care of Nathalie. Apparently, his father was taking their live-in assessment to a Hero-costume studio in Brittainy, so they would be gone for a short while. It was all being done to help better Ree's abilities as a designer and assistant, as she was studying the likes under his father.

So there had been no one to stop him from his workout routine that week, so he's just avoided using his arms where he could, focusing instead on increasing his stamina, and his legs. He felt that he had done a large degree of exercises, and had improved a lot.

But that didn't help the feeling of isolation that he felt from his father.

He couldn't blame his father from being distant from him. After everything that he'd done, he still barely even trusted himself around other people. Still, he wished things didn't have to be like that. It was one of the reasons he wanted to become a Hero, to be able to change his situation for the better. The more he trained, the better he felt.

The closer he felt to becoming a Hero.

"Man, you're been gone a week, but you're rocking stuff today." Nino suddenly said to his blond friend, patting him on the back. "You've been really focused."

Adrien realized that he had been thinking a lot about the state of affairs her was dealing with in his head. When Nino spoke to him, he quickly jolted upright, and faced his friend. Meekly, he quickly apologised for zoning out before he answered his friend. "I missed out on an entire week. I need to catch up to the rest of you."

"I'll lend you my notes if you need 'em."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that man." Nodded Adrien, practically giddy at the chance to get to go over the material that he had missed out on throughout the week. "We go over anything that was interesting?"

Flipping through the pages of his notebook, Nino recounted some of the work that had been done. "A lot of history work about the origins of Heroes, as well as a look at Primal and Abnormal culture regarding Heroes and the use of their powers."

Primal and Abnormal culture was something that Adrien had a lot of interest in. Ever since the Abnormal species had been unveiled to the world just before his birth, a lot of curiosity had been raised as to the society of the Abnormals. However, they were a very private and territorial species, not very keen on allowing Humans onto Senshi if they could help it. They exercised minimal co-operation with their fellow sentient people on the Earth, but remained as isolated as possible.

Not that it wasn't understandable. Two new species entering their world, that didn't have the greatest track record with one another, and even their own species. Who knew what some new species of people would do. The Primal-Human war and the Trait war were great examples of the whole hellhole the two dominant species on the planet could do to one another. Not to mention, the vast majority of the Villains in the world were either Human or Primal.

It wasn't hard to see why a lot of Abnormals didn't want Humans or Primals on their homeland at all.

"Of all the weeks for me to miss…" Adrien muttered to himself.

"The teachers were talking about a profession that the government is thinking of adding to the Hero curriculum." From above and behind them, Alya decided to drop in a piece of information Nino hadn't quite gotten around to telling Adrien yet.

"A new profession?"

"Warriors." Nino explained. "It's a concept that the Abnormals have. They're involved with their military. It's just a theory right now, but the government is apparently entertaining the idea."

Warriors were the Abnormal equivalent of Heroes, but they were far more violent fighters than the average Hero was allowed to be. Brutal force was always permitted by the law of the Senshi government. To many Humans, it almost seemed barbaric.

But there had to be a reason that the Abnormals had one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

"So the Abnormals are finally revealing stuff to us, huh…" Adrien wondered aloud.

"Oh, something else you missed." Alya commented, opening her hands open for Adrien to inspect. Her smirk was huge when she saw the green eyes on the model widen.

Alya's visual Quirk had finally come through. At the end of each finger, and on her thumbs, was a small pad, almost like a cats pad. To show it off a bit more, she activated her Trait, and as she did so, those pads begun to glow the same magenta colour as her eyes did when she activated Broadband. She was one of the first members of the class whose Quirk had a major alteration to her body.

This particular visual Quirk was a boost for Alya and her powers. It allowed her better control, and gave her a stronger ability to refine her powers. The pads acted as hotspot absorbers, which allowed her to absorb the Wi-Fi connections into her hands. She could then use it to then unleash her powers with even more power than before.

She had a visual Quirk that would help her out immensely with her powers.

"Oh, awesome!" Adrien grinned when he realized what it was that he was looking at. "You got your visual Quirk!"

Everything seemed to be happening in the week that he had been away during. It upset him to think that he'd missed out a lot of this sort of thing, but then again, if he'd been here for that, it would have meant he hadn't done anything to help Chloe… Which he refused to do. He'd had no intentions to just leave her to those kidnappers.

And if Kyoyu came back, he still wouldn't hesitate.

As the conversation between them continued, Adrien began to wonder where Marinette had gotten herself to. Since they had returned to the classrooms, Marinette had been absent for some reason. She had said that she just needed to speak to one of their teachers about something, so it was possible that she was just looking for more tips on how to perfect her powers.

Since Adrien knew that being a Hero had never been Marinette's original goal, he wasn't surprised that she hadn't perfected her powers for the purpose of combat. Ladybug needed every edge to her abilities that she had, and so did Alchemist.

Other things had made their way into Adrien's head, things that he wasn't sure he should be thinking about. If Sabrina were in the room, he'd force himself to not think about them, in case she read his mind. It was unlikely that she would, since Chloe had always told her to never do such a thing to him, but he never liked to risk it.

Shinuya's words were still very present in his mind. All of them, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to make of them. This whole vigilante life was still very new to him, and he wasn't sure what it was that he was expected to think or believe. Hawkmoth was supposedly planning some sort of move against someone, whoever that was, whoever Hawkmoth was. Was Adrien on the honest right side? Was remaining neutral the real good choice?

Based on what information he had, he felt it was the most professional, and the smartest choice… But he couldn't help but feel that he was doing something wrong. But he wasn't sure. He didn't know anything about this situation. If he only knew what Hawkmoth was…

But that wasn't the only thing.

' _You're dark inside. You're the kind of person who could end up becoming a Villain someday'_

What did that even mean? He was dark inside? What did that mean? Adrien felt that he wasn't like that, that he was a fairly decent person, but did Shinuya see it like that? Did he have better judgement than Adrien did about himself?

But what was it Shinuya saw? Had he seen this many times in different people? Did he know the signs?

What signs were they, even?

That concept worried Adrien. He had no intentions of becoming a villain in any way. He wasn't the perfect person, but he sure as hell wasn't someone who was going to become a Villainous scumbag. He didn't want to hurt anyone he didn't have to.

He wanted to stop the people who would hurt innocent people from doing that. He wasn't going to become a Villain.

He refused to.

* * *

Marinette arrived a few moments later, following Crosscut into the room. She had just spoken with him regarding his advice for honing her Trait. He had given her some pretty valuable advice about her biggest issue regarding her Traits limits.

The issue was her inability to trust her own powers. The lack of confidence that she had in her own skills and abilities was crippling her ability to perform at her optimal capacity. She had a ton of potential at her fingertips. All she needed to do was expand her knowledge of the world around her, and believe that she could truly do anything, and her control would come.

The blue haired girl felt that maybe he was right. It was a possibility… Could her Trait sense her hesitation? Powers were almost alive for many people. Maybe all she needed was the right frame of mind, and she'd be able to use her powers to the fullest extent.

Today, she felt confident about going home and turning that diamond into coal.

"Alright you guys, let's get this sorted. I wanna go home as much as you lot." There was a bit of a quirk with Crosscut. While he could sound like a motivational, enthusiastic young speaker at times, when he was actually exhausted, her ceased giving a damn about anything, and would become as blunt as Humanly possible. He enjoyed being here about as much as anyone did in a middle school.

Quickly, the members of the class filed into their seats and pulled out their textbooks, filled with paragraphs of information that each student was going to need to know about Primal culture, the subject of today's lesson. As Heroes, they may have to visit foreign lands run by other species, so learning about their societies would prove invaluable should that situation arise.

All Adrien knew about the Primal homeland was it was known as Rekksora. Sora was a word meaning sky, and Rekk was a word in the language of the Primals which referred to a myth the Primals believed in, how once, they destroyed the very sky itself, repaired by those with world altering powers. They named their nation after that myth, Rekksorra.

He also knew they were far more barbaric than Humans were, and still believed in things like cage match fighting, and pit combat. They were a very violence-focused people, and revered strength a lot. Marinette knew precisely as much, leaving the Primals as somewhat of an unknown, despite them being a lot more common than they were a hundred years ago in Human society. The wars had called for a bigger feel of unity between the two races, to avoid such a conflict again.

This was all basic information that they had been taught during their kindergarten school days, before many had even developed their Traits. While information existed online, Adrien and Marinette had been focused on their passions and pastimes too much to bother researching the full extent of the history between humans and Primals.

The lesson began, and ran uninterrupted, for about fifteen minutes. During this quarter of an hour, the class learned much about the way the Primals worked, and what they universally respected. They also learned more about their biology, how they all had superhuman levels of strength, but as a result, traded that in for half as strong powers. Evolution had made them all inherently dangerous. Perhaps more so than Humans.

They also possessed the battleground for the Academy Clash. When that tournament began, the students would find themselves on a ship, setting sail past Africa and towards the Primal homeland. Hence why the students were being taught about the Primal lands right now.

Rekksora was a very much 'Survival of the fittest' type of continent. It was important that the students understood that, lest they find themselves in a situation in which they needed to fight – Sometimes, Primals wouldn't allow themselves to be negotiated with, especially on Rekksora.

Fifteen minutes into the lesson, the classroom suddenly found itself interrupted by a loud, low hanging humming noise that seemed to be originating from above the entire building. It was low in tone, but loud overall, like a harrier jet was hovering just about the entire CFD, as low as possible with the intention to deafen the students as much as possible.

The entire classroom quickly became filled with mutters and conversations regarding the noise, with nearly every single student desiring to shut that noise the hell up, thought whatever means they had to in order to get some God damned peace and quiet. The noise almost felt like it was drilling though the students' stomachs and lungs, making some of the actually feel sick.

"What the hell even is that noise?!" Kim was the one who finally just snapped and yelled aloud, though he certainly wasn't alone in his thinking this.

It had been driving everyone in the room insane. The only reason no one mentioned it sooner was because they had initially suspected it to be something that the CFD had been working on, but after fifteen solid minutes of no one coming to inform them that the noise was in fact part of the school, it became apparent that this wasn't the case.

"Yeah, that does it." Crosscut sighed, before he looked over towards Adrien. "Hey, Agreste, can you check what that noise is?"

"Happily, sir." Adrien nodded. His Teleportation Trait activated seconds later, transporting him to the roof of the building, where the sound was coming from.

Adrien had suspected it to be some sort of malfunction with the speakerphones or something along the lines of a technological issue that was going to be causing some sort of gut retching feedback loop, hence this awful noise. He was fighting a serious urge to just destroy that damn device, whatever it wound up being, and obliterating it completely into nothingness.

When he reached the roof and looked up though, he realized that he couldn't have been more wrong.

With the development of Traits, technology had leaped forward. Once they appeared, the advancements in technology had leaped by about fifty, sixty, possibly even seventy years, and with the discovery of particularly useful Traits, certain areas of science had been able to grow even more. And that included military technology. Airships, acting as hovering tsoilder-deployment vehicles that could move entire regiments at once, had come into service within the last ten years, and were already considered to be one of the biggest developments of the decade.

The news hadn't mentioned that one was going to be hovering above the freaking CFD though. The idea was freaking _absurd_.

Adrien just stared at this gigantic ship for the longest time, not even sure if he was still sane. He couldn't actually be seeing a freaking airship hovering above the CFD. It was larger than the freaking school – How had this even managed to get over Paris? Strict air monitor programs were enforced by Heroes with flight capability who would take down entire planes if that was what they had to do. This had to be an unregistered airship… Except nothing of the sort existed.

All airships right now were owned by the military. Sure, there was talk of them being developed for the civilian sector…. But…

Suddenly, Adrien noticed that the doors, located on the side of the gigantic hovering ship. The humungous door was opened for one single person who seemed to be generating pure electricity from his entire body to stand out and look at the ground below him. Adrien wasn't entirely certain that this person did have a physical body, since they were covered in far too much electrical energy crackling in the air around them.

As the young teenager was thinking all of this, the person who was stood on the side of the airship began to generate a huge level of electricity, and began to fire this energy right back into the ship. While Adrien thought that this guy was just a lunatic, a second later, that same electrical energy began to be fired down to the ground, right towards the school grounds.

The second that lightning hit the ground, people began to generate from it.

All sizes, all shapes, genders and species, all of them began to generate form the electrical energy that was shot right down. A few people leaped from the airship and landed in the courtyard, apparently possessing Traits that allowed for huge damage to be taken, or could negate fall damage tribulations due to gravity. Some had powers that let them land like they had jetpacks on. Some just allowed themselves to crash into the ground before they just picked themselves right back up.

The electrical person simply appeared to Teleport right down into the courtyard. "All members are deployed. The airship crew are ready for a quick evacuation when ordered, Hawkmoth."

_Hawkmoth!_

"Good work, Lightningate. You're to remain by my side. Follow my orders exactly." The man behind the silver balaclava then turned to look at the school.

"Understood." Lightningate responded.

Lightningate – Trait – Electroportation Gate – Lightningate possessed the ability to both generate electricity, and Teleport anywhere that his electricity is capable of reaching. In addition to this, he is also able to Teleport other people using this electricity, like a warp gate. He does this by turning his allies and himself into pure electricity, and then rebuilding their electrons back into physical beings.

Right next to Hawkmoth's other side, a twitching person, fingers and eyes quirking rapidly looked over to Hawkmoth with the scariest grin Adrien had ever seen in his entire life. Hawkmoth seemed to give some sort of nod, before he made a motion with his other hand. "Oxide, give Fragman the ignition that he requires."

The twitching maniacal looking one suddenly unleashed a large number of explosions among his arms as he began to laugh like a crazed lunatic. It took Adrien a few seconds to figure out what was happening.

These were Villains. He didn't know what they wanted with the CFD, but he knew for a fact, they were here because they wanted a fight.

Shinuya was right – Hawkmoth was a Villain.

He instantly Teleported back into his classroom, and at the top of his lungs, yelled, "Get the hell away from the windows!"

The second he even said this, ever window erupted and shattered alongside a huge explosion, devastating that entire side of the building in a sea of huge explosive devastation. Adrien reacted as quickly as possible, Teleporting as fast as he could to get Chloe, Sabrina, Kim and Juleka from the windows directly.

All of them suddenly appeared at the opposing end of the room before the rest of the room even knew what was going on. Crosscut was the first one to react, instantly on his feet and ready to face the dangers, whatever they were.

"What the hell?!"

"What was that?!"

"Villains." Adrein answered, gritting his teeth. While some members of the group flinched, those who had actually tasted combat suddenly found themselves ready and prepared to fight, Marinette being one of those people, Adrien also ready to engage in battle.

"Kids, get back!" Crosscut ordered loudly, stepping in front of them and preparing his own Trait. He used his Air Cutter abilities to dispel some of the smoke and flames that were already beginning to spread into the room. The laziness he had been displaying just moments ago was already dissipated, and he was up and ready to enact his duties as a Hero.

After the third or fourth blast of air, two large sparks of electricity shot into the room, bouncing off of the room and down onto the ground, generating two Villains from outside. One of them was the one Adrien had noticed, the one with yellow pupils and yellow irises, the one that could generate explosions from his body, and reminded Adrien of an insane mental patient.

The other villain was dressed like an old European king, with a royal red robe with white fur outlining his cape. Upon his head rested a crown of gold, and fastened to his waist, was an old sword of yore. He looked like a complete lunatic, and his outfit looked ridiculously expensive. Still, he was a Villain, and it was obvious that underestimating him was a foolish act.

"Okay Villains, listen up." Crosscut declared, taking a step towards them, shielding the children with his body. Any attacks would hit him before it hit them. "You're dealing with the Hero Crosscut. I've got fourteen confirmed villain kills, sixty-five confirmed arrests and captures. Unless you wanna die, you're gonna tell me exactly what you're doing here."

"And I'm Fragman." The insane one laughed. "And I'm gonna enjoy killing every single one of you. Subjugate, do your job so I can start blasting!"

Upon command, the villain known as King Subjugate opened up his palms and simply spoke, in a calm and refined northern English accent; "Serve your king."

When the Villain had used those words, it appeared that nothing had happened whatsoever, even though he had apparently activated his power. For a second, nothing happened.

And then suddenly, Sabrina, Kim, Max, Lila, seemed to snap to. Their eyes dulled instantly, and they stood upright, and they turned to face their classmates.

"Adrien!" Crosscut yelled loudly. "Teleport everyone except those four out of here! Now! This man is a Villain who possessed an extraordinarily powerful ability to manipulate people themselves!"

King Subjugate – Trait – Loyalty Manipulation – King Subjugate possesses the ability to control people based on the level of loyalty that they possess, by controlling their brains through a method of Telepathy that allows him to override their priorities and subservience towards him. This power allows him to force them to become subservient to him. However, this Trait might be incredibly powerful, but it does have many limitations. This power does not work on people who are extremely loyal, or possess little to no loyalty to others. He has to find people who are neither too or not loyal enough at all. However, the people that he can control will do anything that he commands them to do, even at the risk of their own lives.

"But – "

"I'll beat this guy down and save them, just go!" The Air Cutter Hero ordered.

Although he felt reservations about doing so, Adrien grabbed hold of everyone excluding those who had been affected. With one last lingering look at those affected, he Teleported them out of the room and to the corridor outside the room.

He barely knew what was going on, but it was obvious when he seriously took a second to think about it. Really, it was quite simple.

The CFD was under Villain attack.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO GOD DAMN SORRY THIS HASN'T BEEN UPDATED FOR SO LONG. I swear, I've been trying to update it, but college and my girlfriend have take priority lately. I still have many ideas for this series, and now you guys will be seeing a bit more of what I've been hinting towards : ) I'm not gonna say anything now. I'm gonna let you guys figure it out as I update - I'll try to get updates out more regularly, I promise.


	27. CFD Under Attack!

"Focus your power! Do not allow it to control you!" Fu repeated for the tenth time that session to his two Vigilante students, who were unleashing attack after attack onto one another with their Traits, going all out, like a Villain stood before them, poised to strike at their heart and take their life.

The Traitors Vigilante group never held back, because if they did, then they wouldn't be able to survive the brutal world that existed outside of their sight. Each member of the traitors had their own reasons for being a vigilante, and for many, it was because of their pasts.

Now, each one of them wanted to take down Villains. Like Hawkmoth.

The two students whom Fu was teaching right now were two of his eldest members. People who were well beyond the age of being students, reaching into their mid-twenties, but still burning with the passion that they once had in their teenage years to fight for the right reasons. They may not be Heroes officially, but they possessed a high level of determination regardless.

Which was all Fu ever asked for. The drive, the determination to make the most of their gifts. Traits, and all superpowers were wasted on people who wouldn't put forth the will to try their absolute hardest in life. People who had goals, people who had a reason to use their powers…. They were the people the One-Hundred-Eighty plus year old man wanted to teach.

Like the two before him now, still panting from their flurry of attacks.

Real name; Vene Vein, Alias; Veinity – Trait – Vein Whip – Vene has the ability to make her veins burst out of her body, and harden them into a substance far harder than steel, and use them as whips as much as she desires. This works for any vein in her entire body. Additionally, she is also able to detach her veins, and use them as rope, or grapples. However, any damage taken to these veins that breaks through their steel-like toughness will cause her intense pain.

Real name; Esquire Gerun, Alias; Equilibrium – Trait – Dichotomy – Esquire has a unique ability that allows him to trace an opposing element of a power that he is facing against. For example, if an opponent that he faces has a power that allows them to make temperatures drop to cold temperatures, Esquire's Trait will give him the ability to heat objects up. He is able to select which elements of a power he wishes to directly oppose. However, his power is not totally powerful, as it has many weaknesses. He must be within a one hundred meter radius of his target, and he must also know their relative location, which makes stealth an option against him. Additionally, he must also know what power his target has. If he cannot meet any of these conditions, then he will not be able to use his own power.

With an arrogant grin, Vene smirked towards Esquire. Her self-assured confidence in her abilities and overall vanity made her powers all the more fitting, and she was more than aware of these factors about herself, and how much they irritated her colleagues. Still, she did them, if only for her own amusement. Perhaps it was actually a way for her to cover up some fears she had about her powers. Or maybe she just liked winding people up.

She was difficult to read at times.

But her talent and dedication, Fu noted, weren't anything to be mocked.

"Had enough yet, Esquire?" She asked in a condescending tone, her veins hardening around her, all poised to unleash strikes that would knock the Dichotomy Trait user right off his feet and onto the floor without so much as a second to process that he'd been hit.

With his own power active, Esquire had chosen to counter the solid aspect of his opponents power, which had given him a softening ability – Any one of the veins he would be able to make skin-contact with would lose its solidity, and become just as flimsy as any other vein, which would open up his chance for an attack. Vein Whip was an awkward power for him to counter, since there wasn't a lot of counters that his power registered for this type of ability.

There wasn't really an opposite for veins, so his power had to read into other aspects of Vene's power. Her whipping ability, how she could make each one of the veins solid like steel – that was all his power had been able to counter so far. As he learned more about how her powers worked, he would be able to add new abilities to his roster.

Right now though, he still was in the dark regarding his partner's abilities, a lot. He was having to work with whatever he could figure out.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." He responded to her taunt calmly, with a small smile on his face. "This fight isn't over quite yet. I still have the advantages that you don't know about."

"No using any spectator's powers, you know the rules."

"I know. I'm not planning on countering any of their abilities."

With what had almost sounded like some sort of taunt to the ever impatient Vene, she unleashed a huge series of whipping and jabbing attacks, each one targeted for a limb, or something to knock Equilibrium off of equal footing, to give her the advantage. Steel-strength veins strike into the concrete ground, knocking up the rubble and rock and dust from the floor. Not only were the actual veins a threat to Esquire, but the debris and smoke also provided cover from his opponents debris, making her attacks all that more deadly.

He was quick on his feet, jumping and sliding back from the worst of the smokescreen that had been kicked up, and avoiding the small, jagged rocks that were thrown up from the ground with each strike of the blood-carrying tunnel. Side step after zig-zag movement kept him ahead of his targets attacks.

One such strike landed right next to Esquire, jamming itself betwixt the cracks in the floor. The Dichotomy Trait user quickly swiped his hand to the side, and grabbed his opponent's vein, and used the softening aspect of his Trait. One second there was silence, and the second, there was a high pitched screech.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Okay, enough!"

Loudly declaring the end to the fight, Fu had already decided the victory of the fight, having noted the many flaws in the fight between Vene and Esquire, noting each one of their flaws and weaknesses. The fight overall had been good, but certain mistakes that had been made by both members.

Retracting her veins, Vene hissed loudly, clutching her wrists and sucking in air sharply through her teeth. Her green hair was getting red tints, a quirk that occurred along with her physical pain, and her narrow pupils looked up to her opponent. "Aaaah…. Esquire, you fucker..."

"You wanted a fair fight, didn't you?"

"Both of you fought well. Esquire, I see your travels have served you well in enhancing your fighting ability." Fu complimented, noting his students tendency to travel around the world, and how he always took the opportunity to learn new styles of fighting depending on where he went. As a doctor, Esquire's civilian life gave him plenty of reasons to travel.

He was one of the worlds few travelling Vigilantes.

"Let me see your wrist." The twenty-four year old man said, making his way over to Vene, looking at the wrist of the vein he has softened and crushed. Vene hesitated, not entirely willing to allow her injurer to inspect the wound, but she allowed him to regardless. A few moments later, with a bit of pressure point manipulation and direct acupuncture using only his fingers, Esquire returned Vene's wrist to her, with significantly less pain. Not free from pain, but far less than before.

"Thanks…" She muttered, growling lightly as her red tints disappeared.

"You both have good fighting ability." Their Healing master told them both. "However, Vene, you strike too often without thinking. Your anger in a fight easily overpowers you. You must learn to control your emotions while in combat. You are at risk of losing your control of your powers. Remember, you must control your Trait, not allow your Trait to control you."

"Yeah, right…" Vene nodded, begrudgingly accepting the critique of her fighting.

"Esquire, your power requires creative thinking. You must expand your mind in order to make the most of your powers. Your powers can provide infinite possibilities – If you allow your mind to conceive them."

"Got it, sir." Esquire responded far sharper than his fellow Traitor. His voice was crisp, like a solider that was on parade.

As both of the Vigilante's made their way away from the battleground, Master Fu allowed himself to sigh. His Vigilante members had been training nonstop for the last few weeks. Flinch and Shinuya had reported that the Villain Hawkmoth had been building up his forced for some time, with clear intentions for some sort of attack. What that attack was, none of them could honestly say.

But the mere idea of that attack was a horrifying idea even in itself.

The Traitors group had been investigating the mysterious Villain known as Hawkmoth for a long time now, trying to figure out what exactly it was that this criminal was planning. While there were many criminal organizations in the world, tens of them in Paris alone, all with their various goals, plans and ambitions. This wasn't a new development in the world.

But Hawkmoth had always been an enigma. He seemed to command a huge level of respect from lesser Villains, almost like he was controlling them directly. He was able to order criminals and hardened Villains as if they were one single force, regardless of their experience and overall abilities. Incompatible people with incompatible Traits and superpowers were all working together, in spite of not having a proclaimed goal.

What was unique about Hawkmoth was the fact that he wasn't making demands, and he wasn't even directly in the spotlight. He wasn't making any motions to get his demands met. He didn't take hostages.

He barely did anything in the ways of achieving his goals. Right now, he was just getting his bearings. But the actions he did take… They were pure evil.

Kidnappings, manipulation, even killings followed the path that Hawkmoth took. His funds were incredible, and his actions didn't correlate. Money, social power, rule. None of these motivations seemed to fit Hawkmoths goals.

They had managed to gather that he was a wealth man. There wasn't any other way that he was able to fund all of these actions that he was able to take, and he never seemed to target areas that would be of importance to people who lacked in funds. So it seemed probable that this person had a high level of income on a regular basis. He had to have huge funds… Enough that it wouldn't be noticeable or suspicious that a person was making far more than they should be.

So there wasn't any other explanation. Hawkmoth, whoever he was, was a rich man. So if his goal wasn't money, then he must have acted due to ideology of some description. Or personal motivation.

Fu sighed. Until they came into real, direct contact with Hawkmoth, not just skirmishes, then they wouldn't get enough information to guess his identity.

They needed to get into a real fight with him. They needed to fight him head on, wherever he showed up.

They just needed a location…

"Master Fu!"

Speeding into the room like a bullet fired from a gun, Sureshot ran into the room like he'd just escaped an explosion. He was out of breath and he looked panicked, like he'd just witnessed a murder take place in front of his very eyes. Despite the fact that he hid his eyes with sunglasses to hide his identity, hit was clear they were wide, like he didn't believe the things he'd seen or heard.

"Sureshot?"

The Vigilante didn't allow himself to waste a single second. As soon as he was stood close to his leader, he stood upright and loudly declared, so anyone in the room could also hear him.

What he had to say shocked everyone to the very core.

"Sir! Shin – Shinuya has called in from the CFD! He… He says that Hawkmoth is attacking the school with a small army of Villains! He – He's asking for help, sir!"

For a short second, the entire room became totally silent, with only Sureshot's ragged breathing being the only noise in the entire room. The various members all sat or stood there, processing the words that had just been spoken. No one dared speak, unsure what they would say, knowingly or not.

Hawkmoth never attacked directly. He always worked from the shadows. Always.

But this meant that the Heroes would have to finally acknowledge this man as the Villain he was.

"Surly the Heroes are going to be able to take care of that situation?" The leader asked, with a raised eyebrow. "The Heroes do good work. I can't see this attack lasting too long. And Shinuya is more than capable of handling himself."

"That's the thing." The exhausted vigilante answered, looking like he was about to break into an even bigger sweat. Removing the bandana that he always wore around his mouth, he took a deep gulp of fresh air and exhaled. "Shinuya said that the Heroes have been keeping their distance for some reason. They aren't making any moves towards the school. And the students can't escape either. Something's keeping them there."

"What is it?"

"Shinuya doesn't know. Anyone who tries gets attacked. So they can't gauge the threat itself. At least, that's what it sounds like. He called me on his radio device. All other communication has been blocked out. They're on their own in there."

Fu took a few seconds to make his decision. To everyone around him, it barely even took a second.

"Everyone, get ready for a fight."

* * *

A Villain attack, at the CFD of every place on the entire planet? They were attacking here?

It suddenly felt like everything was exploding and being destroyed all around them at once. Detonations and rubble, cracks and shattered debris and glass were already freely rocketing throughout the corridors of the school, amidst the battle cries and white noise of thousands of superpowers activating at once, all in an effort to defend themselves from the incoming Villain attackers.

It only occurred to Marinette when she was running behind Adrien, who was leading the members of their class that hadn't been taken by the Loyalty Manipulation powers that this was actually happening. Screams, roars, and sadistic laughter filled the floor they were on as the Villains chose their student targets.

This was an honest to God Villain attack on the Hero school. They were really in the middle of a Villain raid.

For her, everything was happening in slow motion. Their classmates were following Adrien, who seemed to know what he was doing in this situation. Given what he was capable of, it was natural for everyone to follow him. Out of everyone there, he was the one who they all respected, all for his ethics and abilities as a Hero-in-Training. He knew what he was doing. He wasn't just putting on a brave face. He was their most capable member.

But everyone else around them, that was a far different story. She saw, through windows, other students from all sorts of departments, panicking in the face of such a violent attack. The Villains had infiltrated the school, broken down walls with brute force, and begun attacking the students and teachers at random. They didn't have a particular target, it seemed.

Where they were running… It was dangerous. Adrien couldn't Teleport this many people continuously, so they'd had to resort to running through the already battleground of a building. The situation was deadly, and dangerous.

And they were on the front lines.

"In front! Villains!"

As soon as Adrien called out that there were two targets just down the corridor from them, he leapt into action like the fighter that he was. Teleporting instantly towards his targets, he unleashed a ferocious back-leg roundhouse kick aimed at the jugular vein in the neck of the closest Villain to him, aiming to knock them out with one precise deadly strike.

The kick made direct contact, knocking the breath and ability to intake oxygen from the target, but Adrien didn't allow this to be the end of the attack. Before the second Villain could even activate his power, Adrien Teleported once again, taking his initial target with him, and throwing him at the second Villain with as much force as possible.

A third Teleportation, this time behind the second villain, and with as much force as he could, unleashed a powerful kick to the base of the skin. The impact was clear, and it was obvious that it hurt his target far more than it had appeared.

"Aaaargh!" Collapsing into a throbbing wreck on the floor, and with the additional weight to keep him pinned down, the class was able to run right past without hindrance. Adrien oversaw everyone getting past this particular point, trying his best to not think about any permanent damage that he might have just done to this person.

In the midst of the chaos, a series of explosions from down the hallway that had just run for their lives down suddenly panicked Adrien, as he saw a series of bright flashing lights, and a man riding these lights almost like they were waves shooting towards him and his group revealed that they were being chased.

"You ain't getting away, kids!" The man yelled with a sadistic laugh. Fragman, the Villain that they had just escaped from was creating a series of explosions along his entire back, causing him to be shot forward, utilizing momentum and granting him incredible speed. His wide, yellow toothed grin, and his yellow pupils against his red irises showed the criminal insanity that this teenager possessed.

He was out for actual blood.

"Quick, make a wall behind us!" Adrien yelled as loud as he could to the creative types, Teleporting back to his group so as not to wind up trapped. "We're being followed! Cut him off!"

Marinette and Nathaniel were the ones who reacted the fastest, and begun to use their powers as instructed. Activating her powers and slamming her glowing hands into the walls, Marinette duplicated as many atoms as her body would permit her to do so, and generated a wall made of concrete like the building was made of. Nathaniel added reinforcements to this, generating an entire wall made of steel to block off Marinette's wall, doubling up as a reinforced barrier to protect everyone further.

Not that it did any good. Barely even half a second after it had been generated, the wall was penetrated from the very top, a human sized hole shattering its way through.

"Neat try, kids, but that's not even close!" The insane villain yelled, detonating a huge number of explosions on the under half of his body, using them to keep himself above the students as he leaped forward. With his other hand however, he unleashed further explosions on the roof, utterly obliterating the roof.

Causing it to cave in around the students. Rocks made of concrete, and debris from wooden supports and dust began to fall like an avalanche from directly above

"Get down!" Alya yelled, pulling Nino to one side, as he was the closest person to her that she could see. She tugged at him and essentially threw him into another hallway to prevent him from getting crushed.

Once the dust from the landslide had settled briefly, it was yelled over by Fragman, still laughing like a lunatic. "Don't worry, guys! I'll still hunt you all down! And I'll kill you myself! You two are first, haha!"

Adrien, Marinette, Alya and Nino found themselves in the west side of the building, the rocks and debris from the damage done to their schools roof had cut them off from other members of their class, and they had no idea who was with who, or whom Fragman was chasing right now.

In fewer numbers, they were weaker. Though the fighting seemed to have died down a bit in their location, none of the students were happy about their position.

"Adrien!" Nino looked over to his best friend with a look of hope. "You can Teleport, right? Teleport and gather everyone up! We can all use the debris to get a head start on that psycho!"

Although it was very clear that Adrien would have loved nothing more than to do just that, he couldn't bring himself to look Nino in the eyes. He clutched his ribcage, like he was trying to suppress his own heart shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Nino… I can't. I'm low on stamina. Even if I could find everyone… I wouldn't be able to get us all back. And I'm not back to a hundred percent. Not totally, not after that Shark Abnormal."

Seein the look of heartbreak on Nino's face killed Marinette as much as it did Alya and Adrien. Nino was always a cheery sort of person, and seeing him so dejected was a tough pill to swallow. He had no jokes, nothing to say to lift their spirits, like he normally did. He knew as well as they did – They were in incredible danger, and couldn't do anything to help their friends. The screams and constant explosions that they could hear, muffled because of the rocks, did nothing to help his horrified expression. It just further beat the point home.

The entire situation they were in was absolutely insane. True danger. True Villains.

This was a true Villain attack.

Even Adrien and Marinette, Ladybug and Chat Noir, hadn't experienced any real, true Villainy. Except for Sunstreak. Everyone else they had fought were small time punks and criminals. People that, really, weren't that big a deal. Even the Kidnapping group from Feuer wasn't evil as such.

But these Villains were. This was an attack by the forced of Evil against the Heroes who protected the good in the world.

This was an attack on them too. One that they were severely underprepared for.

The entire idea that the CFD would even be attacked… It was unreal. Not once in history had the CFD ever been so boldly attacked, and by such a large force at that. There was no telling how many villains had joined in the assault. Adrien had counted fifty, but by now, it could easily be reaching over a hundred targets.

The CFD had a total of about twenty professional Heroes as staff, and while its student's totalled well over a thousand, many weren't as experienced fighters as their class was. Meaning that to a great many students, the entire plan was to hide or run.

Not nearly enough people knew how to fight to actually give pushing back these Villains a chance.

"R-Right now, I think we need to focus on ourselves." It was Marinette who broke the uncomfortable silence between the group, trying to get them all focused on the task at hand. Using her powers, she sealed off the hallway debris, using it to act as a reinforced hindrance to any villains that tried to break through. It would buy them a few seconds, if nothing else. "We – We need to find a way to contact the Heroes, have them come and help us!"

"I already tried that, M." The brown skinned Broadband Trait user admitted with a sigh. "I can't get a signal out from the school. They must have some sort of interference or something around the area. Maybe a superpower, or some equipment." Her voice became quiet as she muttered, "Either way…. There isn't anything we can do to call for help…"

"Then we're gonna have to fight our way out."

All three other teenagers looked at Adrien like he was some sort of total lunatic. Adrien, on the other hand, was deadly series. There wasn't any other choice, and he knew it very well. Even if his friends didn't know, or want to acknowledge that as their only method of escape, he knew that it was the only prayer that they had of actually getting out of the situation.

They had to fight their way out.

"Are you crazy, dude?!" Nino yelled his question towards his best friend, not sure what sort of expression he was making. It felt like it bordered onto anger and anxiety at the same time. "We need to focus on helping our classmates! We can't just leave them!"

"If we don't get rid of the Villains, then we might as well just line up and let them shoot us." Adrien bluntly stated, far darker a sentence than any his friends had heard him say before.

But from a pragmatist's standpoint, he wasn't wrong either. The Villains weren't going to be messing around with them anymore. They were the best in the country, and their attackers had to know this fact. They weren't going to hold back, and they certainly going to just let them go out of their way to help their friends. The only way to win this conflict was going to be to fight them head on.

Only when the Villains were driven away did any real hope of getting out of this mess alive still remain. That aside, they were looking at a death sentence, regardless of if the class was all together or not.

"…If we're going to fight… We're going to need our Hero costumes." Marinette informed the group. Her experience when dealing with Villains was helping her to keep calmer than Alya and Nino. They had combat knowledge, which would definitely help them in the battles, but to fully utilize their abilities, they needed their Hero costumes to give them the edge.

"They normally keep them in the classroom, don't they?" Alya asked, already turning on her phone. Once it was fully on, she would set up a hotspot on the device, which would allow her to manipulate its wavelengths as a weapon. "So we need to go back?"

"No." the Hydrokinetic Trait user sighed, totally in disbelief that he was going to help go through with this. "They said that they were taking all out costumes down to the changing rooms, so the Design course could pick 'em up for maintenance or add any specifications that were requested."

The changing rooms were directly a floor below where the group was standing, meaning that they had to find a staircase that was headed down. Adrien could Teleport them a floor below, but there was no way of knowing if a large group of Villains was going to be there, so he didn't want to risk it. This was the same reason he didn't destroy the floor beneath him with Destruction. He didn't want to run the very slim risk that a fellow student was underneath and the collapsing ceiling would crush them.

Meaning, they had to go about this the old traditional way, regardless of the feelings of those involved, and if they wanted to or not. The fact was, there was little choice. If they didn't make all the trips by walking, then they ran too many risks that could result in their immediate danger.

A scream, still muffled by the concrete wall Marinette had erected, forced the four students to realize that they were still in the midst of an attack, and staying stood still in such a place for too long was a very poor idea.

"We need to get moving." Said the Dual Trait user. Subconsciously, he had taken control of the situation, already putting himself into the role of the team's leader. While he would have made no protest if Marinete had done the same thing…

She made no movements to do so, which indicated she was either too thrown off by the results of the invasion, or she felt that Adrien was a better choice for the group's leader. Ladybug was trusting Adrien Agreste to lead them all to safety.

He felt almost honoured. Or he would, were they not about to find themselves in one of the most dangerous situations they had ever found themselves in in all their lives.

* * *

An entire ocean of bodies surrounded the blonde haired teenage girl. Being spoilt and the mayor's daughter, people usually underestimated her abilities in a fight. They assumed someone like her wouldn't be capable of using their powers to fight in an actual battle. That her Trait wasn't good enough for real Hero work. As if her birthplace had even the slightest thing to do with her powers.

Chloe had wound up being split up from the rest of the class, which wasn't exactly the most ideal situation in the world. Without anyone around, she didn't' have anyone to watch her back, and that would leave her more vulnerable to getting snuck up on by a Villain who had a stealth based power. It wouldn't matter a huge amount, but it didn't do much to make her feel much better. She wouldn't feel as anxious were she not on her own.

First the kidnapping, and just a week later, this was happening?... Chloe was beginning to feel that she was cursed.

The abilities that Chloe had were incredibly useful, and with training, she was already well on her way to becoming one of the strongest Heroes that left the CFD if she refined her abilities further. Looks were deceiving when it came to Chloe. She was, underneath everything, a very powerful individual, with incredible power.

Constant groans and moans of pain from the Villains she had defeated filled up the room up, some of the less experienced or durable members just totally incapacitated by the young girl. None of them had taken her seriously. And it was their total downfall.

The thing that Chloe felt was the most important was finding a way to regroup with some of her classmates. She didn't particularly care who they were at this point, safety in numbers would ensure that they had a decent defence until the Heroes arrived. Or any student for that matter. It had to be better than being completely alone in this battlefield of a school.

Of course, one thing that was a massive issue was the fact that she had next to no idea as to what the Villains were even targeting. That would be valuable knowledge, not just to her, but to everyone that she came into contact with. Be it a Hero or an object, whatever the Villains wanted, if people knew what it was, they could move to defend it, or abandon it entirely.

Whichever as the safest.

Still, Chloe found herself worried about the classmates of theirs that had been turned into some sort of mindless dolls due to the Trait by that King Subjugate Villain. Crosscut had said it was some sort of Loyalty Manipulation Trait, but some things didn't add up if that were truly the case. Loyalty, if too high or low, would mean it was ineffective.

So why had Sabrina been manipulated?

Why had that occurred? Was that Trait far more complex than first expected… Or were there feelings Sabrina wasn't telling Chloe?

Being kidnapped had put a lot of things into perspective for Chloe. The way she had acted, the way her classmates treated her. The reality of the situations that she found herself in, again and again. Her monetary and social standing honestly hadn't done a single damn thing for her in that respect, because at the end of the day, if the Villains wanted to take her from everyone that she knew and loved, then it wouldn't matter to them where she came from or how she acted.

Her powers, her abilities, and her strength as a Hero would be what determined that.

The people who cared enough to go and rescue her would be the dictators of that.

Honestly, the truth had been a simple one.

Chloe wanted to be a Hero because she wanted those bonds. Underneath everything, that was what she had wanted, even if she hadn't know it herself. That was why she had wanted to become a Hero. Not for Adrien, her best friend. Not out of some sort of fantasy. Not because she felt she was particularly powerful, but because she wanted to build those bonds with people, the bonds only a Hero would be able to nurture.

Though it would help if her personality wasn't total crap. She knew this all too well.

"Die!"

A sudden battle cry from one of the Villains previously thought to have been taken down by Chloe revealed a lizard-like Villain, charging at the Hero-in-training with a geokinetic-type Trait, turning their hands into rubble and aiming to beat the skull of their target in with rocks.

Moving quickly, Chloe was able to dodge the initial strike, and then, with her open palm, gripped onto the scales that made up the skin of the lizard-man, and looked him square in the eyes. For a second, nothing happened.

And then Chloe spoke.

"You're going to tell me what your targets are."

Chloe Bourgeois– Trait – Mindwipe – Chloe possesses the ability to create pheromones, which, when applied via skin contact, allow Chloe to make her targets do whatever she wants. In order to activate her power, she needs to make skin contact for just a few seconds so that her pheromones can sink into her targets. She is able to completely make her targets obey her commands, including answering any questions that she has, obeying any actions she dictates them to take, and can give them a set of instructions to follow through with for up to an hour after she had left the immediate vicinity. However, she can only use this power on one person at a time, and if she uses her power on a second person, the first person is freed from the effects. Overuse of this ability can cause her great mental fatigue.


	28. Villainous Intentions

If there was one thing in this world that Adrien was prepared to throw all of his personal feelings and beliefs aside for, it was his desire to protect the people who he cared about. His desire not to hurt or kill anyone, his longing for redemption for what he'd done to his mother, and everything in between… These were the things that rove him in life, the things that gave his existence meaning. The existence that he barely had any right to anymore. His goal of redeeming himself was the only thing that he really lived for.

It was this that made his very existence bleak. Dark, as Shinuya had put it. There were days that Adrien felt he had no right to exist because of all the pain that he'd caused. His own vindictive beliefs said that he shouldn't attempt to be a Hero in any respect. It wasn't right. Not for someone like him. Someone who only had caused pain for many people his entire life. What right did he have to being a Hero? What right?

He didn't. When it came down to it, he didn't have any real right… But he kept trying.

And he would always live by his code. He wouldn't kill. He would cause as little pain as possible. And he would always do whatever it took to keep his friends as safe as possible, even if they would up hating him for it.

These were his driving forces to survive in this Superhuman world.

But if his friends came into danger?

Then every single one of those codes and personal feelings went out the window.

"Get away from them!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, launching himself like a canon with his Teleporting powers, targeting the side of the head of a Villain whom looked like he had skin that was mode of a wooden substance. That very same substance seemed to give his target a protective layer, which meant that his attack did less than the desirable level of damage.

In retaliation, Adrien Teleported to the side of his target, and tried to assess the damage that he had done. Very little, the wood skin acting as some sort of absorber meant that there was nearly no sign of any impact from the strikes. It was almost like the attack hadn't done anything to the Villain. Like he'd just taken it and negated the impact.

Throwing a back fist strike of his own, the Villain lashed out towards the young teenager. He was now distracted from his friends, whom he'd been attempting to outflank while they dealt with a group of their own. When Adrien had seen this, he'd sprang into action, headfirst and all alone, with no consideration for his own safety. After all, his well being was totally irrelevant. And at any rate, he was more than capable of taking on someone like this Villain. A Contact – Type, like himself, wasn't going to be much of an issue.

Not with Destruction at the ready. It was situations like this that made Adrien grateful for his Dual Trait mutation.

Particularly when it came to this sort of Trait – It was a transformation type. The user seemed to be able to turn their skin into wood, and that was their Trait. It wasn't an uncommon type of Trait, so its weakness was common knowledge – These sorts of powers acted a lot like armour, which mean they would also split if stretched too far. And wood was probably the best case scenario for Adrien in this situation.

It would be very easy to break. Like steel or rock. And doing so would leave his target vulnerable.

Another attempted strike, and the Hero-in-Training made his move, Teleporting above the Wood-skinned Villain, and slamming down into his face with his charcoal black hand, the side effects of the activation of Destruction. At first, there wasn't any reaction at all, as the wood began to decay off the targets body slowly, tiny splinters and pieces of bark just falling from the male attacker's body. Until suddenly, a loud scream was heard.

"Aaaaaarrrgh!" The pain that always came from being hit by Adrien's Trait sunk in after a slightly delayed reaction. Whatever it was that was in Adrien's powers, it seemed to always cause intense pain if enough of the opponent's body was caught in the strike. It was good for lowering his targets defences as well, if one looked at it from a purely objective stance – While his enemy was distracted by being in a huge amount of pain, he could land a final strike.

Which is exactly what he did – With one final Teleportation, he threw his right foot towards the back of the head, aiming for the weak spot, just underneath the skull, and above the neck. The force was transferred into the Villain, and slammed his head right against one of the walls, knocking him out instantly. Every muscle Adrien had was put into the strike, and it paid off – This man was going to wind up in a hospital, without question.

He'd still be alive, but he was going to need medical attention when they found him.

"We're clear here!" Alya called out just a few seconds after Adrien had finished off his target, the unconscious body of one of the thugs falling to her feet. She stood above the body with a smug grin on her face, feeling very victorious, if one judged by her smile. He phone was within her right hand, providing the bandwidths that she needed to fully utilize her powers. "There's only like, five of these guys down here. What gives?"

Most of the battle seemed to be taking place on the floors above them, one the second and third ones, whereas the actual first floor now seemed to be housing very few criminals. Only a small number had been found by Adrien and his group, comparatively small in numbers to the overall forces of the enemy.

So few on the first floor… What was the reason for that? It didn't make a lot of sense.

"Maybe whatever they're looking for is on the upper levels?" Marinette suggested, finishing up sealing their read flank with concrete and metal. A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face, her exhaustion from constantly using her Trait beginning to show. Even Marinette had her limits. Her Trait was extraordinarily powerful, but that didn't mean she was invincible.

Ladybug wasn't invincible.

"That could be true..." The Vigilante boy muttered, looking down on the Villains that they had just defeated. All totally out cold, so they weren't going to get any information from them. The smart thing would have been to get information from these people first, to figure out what their goal was, as opposed to just beating them unconscious. Then again, when under the threat of being killed, survival took priority over information.

And the goal right now was still to acquire their costumes. They would need every edge that they gave them against these Villains. Safety first, information second.

"…Either way, we still need to get our costumes." He reminded them after he came to this conclusion. He formed his hands into fists, and relaxed them again, looking at his palms. He saw a speck of blood, from his own body, dripping from his skin. He'd barely used it, but Destruction was starting to show its negative effects. It was most likely because, despite only activating it a few times, he'd used it for fairly long periods of time, a fighting style he rarely indulged. He usually activated it in small bursts, hitting his target within a few seconds, and then deactivating it.

So smaller periods of time allowed him to avoid the drawbacks for longer. He was surprised he hadn't figured that out sooner.

As he led the group down the corridors, Adrien had a sickening feeling that this attack wasn't something that had been thrown together haphazardly. Whoever the mastermind behind this attack was… They knew what they were doing. They knew what they wanted, and they were totally dedicated to getting it. Nothing could be clearer than that fact to Adrien. The facts were all there, and Adrien couldn't shake them off.

Thinking about it, if a villain wanted something from the CFD, there were a few methods that one could go. Infiltration was the most obvious. If someone managed to sneak into the school, they could get whatever it was that they wanted without being spotted, if they were good enough of course. And if they were good enough, no one would even know what they had stolen until it was too late to do anything about it. Above all, this entire attack wouldn't be required. Just one or two skilled stealth operatives, and it wasn't like the underworld was struggling when it came to finding Villains who were skilled at stealth operations.

Another method would be taking hostages and making demands, though that one wasn't likely to work… But it would have certainly been easier than gathering an entire army of Villains, convincing them that you were worth following, and then attacking one of the world's top Hero Academy's.

But there was one thing that Adrien didn't get. If it required an attack, an entire armada of Villains with their own powerful Superpowers…

Why daytime?

At night, the CFD would be a much easier target to attack. Barely anyone would even be there, maybe four or five teachers who were still doing work. Not an entire school filled with students and Heroes, all with training to use their powers to fight and defeat Villains. That was just tactically unsound. If the goal was to get something…. And their aim was to abuse it… Why on earth would they attack when there was a huge number of both Heroes and students training to become Heroes present?

That was a recipe that directly suggested that their aim was to fail, and yet they were giving the attack their all. A huge number of Villains, an entire airship, and a direct attack.

A suicidal, doomed to fail attack, in broad daylight, where every one of the Villains was trying to fight as hard as they could? None of that made sense. If they wanted to fail, they wouldn't really be trying to beat down the students…. But if they wanted to succeed…. Why daylight?

Why attack when there were a large number of people there?

Why?...

…. No…

Unless… This was a mission that, for some reason…

Adrien suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his green eyes suddenly staring, wide open, towards the ground. That couldn't be right…. What sort of plan did Hawkmoth have, if that really was the case? It sounded like something that a bad writer would come up with, but it made sense, given the knowledge that he had available to him. It made too much sense… and that was what was worrying the Dual Trait user.

As he suddenly stopped, his friends quickly caught up to him, and noticed his unmoving body. He was still as a statue, making no movements whatsoever. He didn't even look like he was breathing. "Adrien?" Nino questioned. "What's wrong?"

"…" He bit his lower lip suddenly, and could taste the blood as he did so. He was more stressed than he had even though possible. "…We need to get to where our costumes are, quickly."

* * *

Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be any real damage to the area that surrounded the changing rooms, like there wasn't even a battle going on in the rest of the building. They could still hear and feel the battle going on around them, but this particular area barely even seemed to be touched by any sort of combat whatsoever. There was no damage to the walls, blood, cracks, or residue from the use of any superpowers.

While it was suspicious, it was actually a very fortunate stroke of luck, the group thought to themselves. But it was also a sign that no one else had managed to get away from the sudden attack to get their own costumes. That was something that did cause them a bit of discomfort when they thought about it, but they just had to think about something, anything else. Like getting properly equipped.

"I'll take the first watch." Adrien offered, stepping out of the room. While his friends changed, he would keep an eye out for Villains and thugs trying to make their way into the rooms while on the hunt. They had all crowded into one changing room, as opposed to using the gender specific ones – It was easier to guard that way, and frankly, there were more important things to worry about than showing off a bit of skin.

The entire situation was something that Adrien was uncomfortable with anyway. The CFD had measures to deal with Villain attacks, didn't it? How had this even gotten to the state that they were under serious threat of being taken over by a bunch of unorganized thugs?

No, that wasn't true. Hawkmoth was here.

And Adrien could have slapped himself. The Traitors group had been right, all along. Hawkmoth had been a Villain, and he had been someone they should have helped capture. This was his fault.

Shinuya had warned him. And he hadn't listened, refusing, to keep up a façade of just actions.

But… He still had a few options left to him. He hadn't gotten rid of it since it had been given to him, quite a long time ago. Reaching into his pocket, he fumbled around, while keeping an eye out for Villains. For a brief moment, he was certain that a group was about to come around the left corridor, as he heard footsteps and crumpling. What it was, he never figured out, but it was in this moment that his hands felt what they were looking for.

The communication device Shinuya had given him when they first met. A direct line to the Traitor vigilante.

Adrien had been wrong, this entire time. His refusal to help the Traitor Vigilante group…. It had led them down this path. He could have stopped all of this, this attack…. If he'd helped. If he'd trusted that the Traitors weren't just a group of Villains posing as Vigilantes. That maybe, a Vigilante group were all as one because of the same reasons that he became a Vigilante – Because he felt that it was the best way to help people until he became a Hero.

Had he been too cautious? Had he not been careful enough?...

Whatever he had been, he had been wrong. That was all that there was to it. He was wrong.

And who knew who that was going to hurt now.

Now… He needed all the help he could get. Looking at the device, small, spherical, and with a white power button on the case, he took a sharp breath, and pressed inwards.

His response came less than a second later, red hair and a black highlight being the first things Adrien saw. " _Agreste?! You're in this hellhole too?!_ " A picture of Shinuya came up in a holographic projection, showing the finer details of the Japanese student, in a hazy light blue coloured filter to it. Parts were like static, but the overall image was relatively clear.

In his opening sentence, Shinuya had already told Adrien everything that he'd needed to know – He was in the CFD along with Adrien. He was also a student, Adrien had almost forgotten. "Shinuya? You're in the CFD too?"

" _Yeah. The Villains showed up. They're with Hawkmoth. What's going on, are you okay?"_

Nodding, Adrien confirmed this assumption, before checking both directions again. Left, clear, right, clear. He looked back to his fellow student, trapped elsewhere in the building. "We're alright for now. I'm with a small group, on the first floor. They're changing into their Hero costumes. We thought we should gear up properly, see if we can get an advantage over the attackers."

" _Smart thinking. I'm with a small group of Traitors in the lunch hall on the second floor. We barricaded the entrances, and thanks to Kuragari's Trait, we can keep bringing in people from the other side without weakening our defences."_

Recognising that name as the person Nino had become friends with after their fight, the person with totally charcoal black skin, red eyes and teeth, and the Trait Intangibility, Adrien was able to guess how they were holding out – By using Kuragari was a retriever. He'd go out, use his Trait, and bring people into the room. It let them barricade the room up with as much as they wanted to, without having to risk trapping their fellow students. The revelation that Kuragari was a member of the Traitors was one Adrien reminded himself to question Shinuya on later, he decided.

Right now, they needed a plan.

And he needed to convey what he'd theorised.

"Do you… Do you know why Hawkmoth is here?"

" _Not a clue. I know I said that we suspected that he was planning something bold, but we never expected a straight up attack on the school. We didn't know he had this many people."_ Shinuya commented grimly, glancing away from the video call before looking back. _"Why, do you?"_

"I think I have an idea… I think he's after the people here."

" _Huh_?" Shinuya sounded far more confused than anything else. He raised an eyebrow, looking at the video of Adrien like he'd just developed an extra head.

"If he wanted an object, information, or anything like that, then he could have broken in at night. If he needed something else, stealth based powers would have been a better option. Think about it – Why would he attack in the middle of the day when the school is filled to the brink with students, a ton of us learning how to become Heroes?" Explained Adrien, presenting his thinking as clearly as he could. "What's in the school in the middle of the day that there isn't at any other point in the day?"

The silence that fell was sickening, and Adrien knew for a fact that Shinuya knew where he was going with this. Just thinking about how right he was wasn't doing Adrien any favours either, and this conversation had him convinced beyond any doubt.

It wasn't an object. It wasn't money, and it wasn't information.

"… _He's after the students."_

Hawkmoth was looking to get hold of the students of the CFD. That was why he had attacked in the middle of the day – That had to be the reason why. When all the students of the CFD would be in the building at the same time. Why he'd gathered such a large number of Villains to help him launch the assault. He needed people who had powerful Traits to help him take on the Traits and powers that the CFD students and teachers no doubt had at their disposal. He needed manpower. He needed agents.

He needed a meat shield to take the fire while he did whatever it was that he had planned.

If he had wanted to, he could have tracked down individual students after CFD classes ended for the day, but that would have put them on alert when they figured out that someone was targeting them. That was why he was openly attacking – Because he wanted the students, to get as many as possible, and surprise his enemies as much as possible so they had less time to retaliate and prepare their defences.

The question now was….

"… _But why?"_ The Vigilante asked, looking around his location. Adrien could hear some metallic clanging from his side, and suddenly became concerned at what Shinuya's situation was. " _What does he want the students for?..."_

"…I'm not sure." Adrien admitted with a sigh. That was one part of his theory that was totally up for debate. What business Hawkmoth had with him and his classmates was another discussion entirely, but it couldn't be anything pleasant. Ambiguous as Hawkmoth was at this moment, his intentions were very clear.

He wanted the students for something, and he was willing to go to the extremes to acquire it.

The question was what?

What was so important to him that he was risking everything on this assault?

" _Did you get any names?"_ Shinuya suddenly asked. " _Villains. Did you hear any aliases that they used?"_

Blinking, Adrien thought back.

"I heard a few. One was someone called Oxide, and another was called Lightningate. There were two who attacked us and my class especially. Someone called Fragman and King Subjugate."

" _Shit_!" The Dual trait user suddenly jumped back at the sudden sharp curse. _"Fragman and Subjugate?..."_

It took a few seconds before Adrien asked, "What's wrong with those two?" Aside from the fact they were Villains, there didn't seem to be anything particularly standout regarding the two of them. Their powers seemed to give them a lethal edge, but nearly all the powers in the CFD did the exact same thing.

" _Fragman and Subjugate are two of Hawkmoths most trusted fighters. Whenever we've run into them, it's been clear that Hawkmoth values them and their abilities. He sends them out to deal with big tasks. Their powers are extremely powerful, and incredibly dangerous. On top of that, we know that Fragman in particular is an absolute lunatic. He was responsible for the attack in America that caused orientation to become compulsory worldwide – You're dealing with people who aren't even going to think twice about killing you if that's what it'll take to get you to comply with them."_

A bunch of psychopathic Villains, one of which was a known maniac that was responsible for killing over thirty students when he was barely even a kid, and God knew how many other Villains around the place who were on God knew what payroll for God knew what reason. On top of that, Hawkmoth was around, presumably still focused on finding whatever it was that he had set his sights on, assuming he hadn't already acquired it.

The sarcasm couldn't come thickly enough. Absolutely fantastic. Could the situation even get any worse at this point?...

"…Shinuya, what's Hawkmoth's power?" Adrien questioned with a sigh, unsure if he even wanted to know. The situation couldn't get direr, and learning that the leader behind all this chaos had a power that would put everyone else to shame would just be to rub salt in the wound.

" _No idea."_ Replied the Vigilante. _"Some of our members report seeing him with a flight based power, and some reported him having metal manipulation. I've seen him using fire-based abilities myself, so it's possible there's some sort of illusionist working to hide what his powers really are."_

"So we're blind."

" _Basically."_

"Great… What should we do now?"

" _Make your way over to us. Once we regroup, we'll be able to figure out our next course of action. Bring anyone else you find. Don't try Teleporting. It's too risky, and I don't want any of our guys freaking out and attacking you."_

"Got it."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is shorter, but I wanted to make this one short because I want to dedicate certain chapters to certain focus points. That's the main reason behind it, and because there's a lot of exposition in this chapter I wanted to get out of the way.
> 
> Chapters are coming out less frequently because I'm working on lots of other ideas at the same time - Admittedly it's not my smartest idea to have six stories going on at once, but damned if I can't stop a story because my OCD will not permit me to leave a story incomplete! So that's why there's been a gap in uploads.
> 
> I know it's short, but I hope you guys enjoyed it ^_^


	29. Obliteration

His sinister grin scared even the fellow Villains of the attacking force, each of them moving away as Fragman walked, with absolutely no rush in any of his steps, back towards the leader of the invasion force. Even well-seasoned Villains dare not try their luck against the known psychopath, giving him wide a birth whenever his red iris and yellow pupiled eyes met with their own.

Many took note of the intricate patterns that ran down his very muscular right arm, stopping just before it went onto the back of his hands, swirls and spirals all running around like they were roots from a tree. The Powderkeg Trait user looked intimidating enough without those patterns, yet they just emphasised more how truly horrific he appeared. Intimidation was the name of the game when it came to this teenager, and he was very good at doing so. His ferocious appearance was matched only by his brute strength, and highly destructive and versatile superpower.

He was in a supremely good mood, since he'd managed to let loose quite a lot on the school, so for now, he was following procedure. Behind him, two of the fighters who had been serving underneath him flanked either side, acting as though they were his personal guard, though they had valuable cargo that he thought Hawkmoth was going to be very grateful for.

Speaking of Hawkmoth, the masked Villain was in conversation with one of his newest rising stars, Trigger, some Japanese-French person that Fragman honestly knew very little about, before he abruptly ended speaking with the young member of his group, having noticed his long time subordinate approaching. He then stood straight ahead, facing Fragman head on, and spoke clearly.

"Report."

To the tens of Villains that surrounded the mastermind, the command was crisp and clear. The demand of a leader whom had been planning this attack for months now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike at the heart of Heroism in Paris. For reasons known only to those closest to him in the hierarchy, and left to the theories of those within the lower ranks. On the surface, they were here to stake their claim onto the French city and obliterate the cities school of Hero hope, but were there more intricate matters at play?

A large, more elaborate plan?

Fragman was one of the few people who did know that there indeed was, not that he'd ever blab about it. Truth be told, he didn't need to know, and he didn't particularly care one way of the other. The only impulse that he had within his existence was to destroy things. To blow them up. To use his Trait to absolutely eradicate anything that got in his way. If Hawkmoth could provide targets, the psychotic teenager would follow him right through hell.

And so it was with the same sinister grin that he gave his findings to his leader. "Subjugate got hold of a lot of students and some of the staff members during the initial assault. Everyone who got captured has been taken to the designated area, sir."

"Excellent. And the ones that you were unable to apprehend?"

"See, there's the problem. There's quite a lot of students who are still resisting inside the building. Initial bombardment worked well, but these kids are putting up one hell of a fight." Glancing over his shoulder, he looked back towards the building, smoke and fire escaping into the open air, longingly, eager to charge right back into the building and get back into the fight. "The Hero Course students, most of them got away. Tundra and Orchestrator are leading groups to hunt 'em down."

"Was the Teleporter inside?"

"Who, Agreste? Yeah, he was there. He got away though, before Subjugate was able to manipulate him. Like I said, Tundra and Orchestrator are in charge of tracking them down. They ain't getting away easy."

Hawkmoth let out a low sigh of frustration. With the psychic force-field that surrounded the current radius, as so provided by the Villain known as Pathblocker, he knew that Adrien wasn't going to be able to escape the current area, even if he tried Teleporting away from the immediate vicinity. Pathblocker's Trait meant that anything that tried to get in or out of the area surrounding the school was certainly destined to fail. It was a Trait known as Segregation Barrier, and it made entry and exit from it impossible. With this in mind, as long as that Villain kept up his work, Adrien, nor did anyone in the school, have any hope of escape.

"Oh, I got some good news for you too. A little present." Grinned Fragman, before he let a small explosion detonate in his left palm. A signal to indicate that his subordinates were to bring forward his 'gifts'. "Tikki, Plagg, bring 'em up."

From either side of him, both the silent Villains suddenly stepped forward, in each of their arms, slumped over their shoulders, a person. Both of them stood just a few meters before Hawkmoth, before throwing the captured targets to the ground, right in front of the leader.

From Plagg, a Hero, hands tied behind their back, and special restraining gloves and shoes applied to limit the usage of this particular fighters Superpower. Crosscut, who was still totally conscious, though he had his mouth gagged tightly, so not a single word was even slightly capable of being coherently made. Instead, his eyes just glared right up at Hawkmoth, defiance still evident despite having no way to counter against the Villain in his current predicament.

And from Tikki, Chloe Burgeous. The young girl was unconscious, with blood seeping from her mouth, and a nasty looking bruise accenting the right side of her chin. Whichever Villain had managed to get the final strike in against her had made it a clean hit. There were no other markings on the young girl.

"Managed to get my hands on these two. I've seen them in action myself, and their powers aren't stuff to be taken lightly. Thought you might want to get Loadout to check see if they're worth a damn." Revealed Fragman, taking a grandiose bow before stepping back a few steps, like he were presenting the gains to an almighty king.

The silver Masked Villain looked between the two of his 'gifts, as though he were deciding on if they were of even the slightest value. Attention was firmly focused on the Hero between them, since the young girl was asleep. "Loadout." Hawkmoth said simply, grabbing the attention of one of the Villains in the crowd.

"Gotcha." Ginger hair, Primal markings that looked like bubbles, his Primal Physical Quirk of claws as opposed to fingernails, and plus signs instead of pupils, this particular villain nodded immediately, before stepping forward to inspect both of his newfound targets. Given his Trait, Loadout wasn't suited for combat, which made him a tactical consultant more than anything else.

Kneeling down next to the still conscious Hero, Loadout made direct eye contact, at which point, his own eyes began to glow a distinct golden shade. Information rapidly began pouring into his head, and he smirked as he consulted the data he had just received. "Not bad… Not bad at all…"

Loadout – Primality – Power Reading – Loadout has the ability to, upon making eye contact with a person who is conscious of their surroundings, learn everything about their powers. Loadout gains all the information about his targets powers, including how it works scientifically, how it is activated, what its limitations are, and what negative drawbacks can occur from overuse. He is also able to learn of any special moves or tricks that the user has developed. Essentially, he has a full encyclopaedia of powers for anyone he makes eye contact with! He rates powers on a scale of one to ten, one being pathetic, and ten being extraordinarily powerful. Incidentally, his own power is a four.

"The Hero has a Trait that's about a six." Reported the Primal, standing upright and facing Hawkmoth. "It's called Air Cutter, and it seems to work by channelling the air he breathes in through his body back to certain points, like his hands. Give it enough force and it should be able to tear steel in two. Extremely versatile."

"And the girl?"

"Can't tell you anything about her until she regains consciousness." The Primal explained, kicking Chloe with the side of his foot lightly, like he expected that to wake her. "My powers only work if the target is aware."

With a nod of understanding, Hawkmoth turned to his resident brawer. If Fragman had brought her here, then that indicated that he at least had a vague idea of what she was capable of doing. "What's the girl's ability?"

"Brainwashing of some sort." That caught Hawkmoths attention. A Brainwashing Trait? "Looked to me that when she made physical contact with someone, she'd be able to get them to do whatever she wanted. Maybe pheromones or some shit. That's what she was doing when I came across her. So she knows what we're doing here." Throwing a couple of punches into the air to get the point across, Fragman smirked as he recalled the memory. "Girl didn't even see me show up until I'd knocked her out."

Both had abilities that were of particular interest to the lead Villain, yet they didn't have exactly what it was that he was looking for. Of course, their abilities would come in good use for the mastermind of this event, and they could be considered very powerful bonuses to add onto the roster, yet their abilities were not viable for the remainder of the plan. "So long as we have her here now, what she knows means nothing… Do we have any update on the Traitors group?"

"Nothing, but Pathblocker knows his job, and the counter groups are all prepared."

"Good work." Hawkmoth said, before he turned his attention directly behind him. He stood in front of a large cage, metal bars keeping the Akuma inside it hidden away from the rest of the world. The CFD's stash as it were, Akuma that they captured for their students to train against. Normally, they would only be released into the training grounds, but the Villain's had managed to track down their location and retrieve them before they could be hidden, leaving them with a large number of new toys to play with.

And all that was stopping them from escaping was a large, metal door.

"Time to move onto phase two then." Declared the lead Villain, before placing his bare palm against the framework of the cage, and activated his Trait known as Obliteration.

* * *

"Get back here!"

Adrien and Marinette leaped away from the incoming glacier of ice headed towards them, the boy leaping left, and the girl narrowly avoiding getting skewered by stepping to the right hand side. The entire corridor was totally blocked off by this one Villain and her Ice-based superpower, leaving Adrien with next to no place to Teleport, and leaving Marinette with no space to duplicate any of the atoms that she would need to help them to progress. This Cryokinetic Villain was keeping the entire corridor on lockdown, blocking everything off the first chance that she got.

All that they knew about this particular enemy was that she kept calling herself Tundra, and that she was trying to keep them from meeting up with the group at the dining room, where Shinuya and a larger number of students were skill holding out, battling with everything that they had. Of course, Adrien was the only person who knew that this was actually the case – He hadn't revealed that he knew about the group because there was no logical way for him to know about them – Meaning that they'd figure out he had some external method of contacting people.

And given everything that was happening, right now was not the time to be dealing with doubt in their comrades. They needed to be working as one strong, cohesive unit if they wanted to escape this minefield alive. It was for this reason that Adrien, despite hating having to lie, kept his knowledge about the lunchroom group to himself. Instead, he suggested that they head over in that direction to fortify it up themselves, which his classmates agreed with.

Given that Tundra was here, blocking any attempts that they made to get towards the lunch hall, the Villains had figured out that the Traitors were hiding out in there and contacting other pupils. She seemed to have a very keep analytical mind, as she had generated a large amount of Ice around her too, making sure that Adrien Teleporting behind her was impossible to do, and even if he could, the damage would be reflected back onto his own body, due to the nature of this particular ice.

Still, that couldn't stop them.

"Alya!" Adrien called, signalling their need for the Broadband Trait user's abilities.

Her eyes and finger pads already glowing that magenta colour, Alya was ahead of the call to action by preparing her Trait for immediate combat. Manipulating the wavelengths given from her phone, Alya slammed her palm straight into the ice, and sent such a destructive shockwave right through it, it began to shatter into ten thousand tiny pieces.

"Aaargh!" The recoil suddenly hit the darker skinned girl, as she skidded backwards, clutching hold of her burnt hand. While her power was far better than Adrien's for this sort of task, the effects to her were just as deadly, and just as painful.

Tundra – Trait – Boiling Ice – Tundra has the ability to generate large quantities of ice by freezing the air molecules and water vapour around her, by stopping the particles around her from moving. However, the top layer of her ice, also known as the surface, has atoms that are constantly moving at a very rapid speed, which means that, if touched, her ice will feel like it is burning hot. This makes destroying her ice with physical means extremely difficult.

Using the opportunity presented before him, Adrien quickly Teleported towards Tundra, before she had a chance to generate any more of her boiling hot Ice and cover the corridor again. Alya wasn't going to be able to use the same trick twice because of her injuries, so it was imperative that this next series of strikes work.

Leading in with a right-armed elbow strike, The Dual Trait user aimed for Tundra's ribs, aiming to either knock the air right out of her, or knock her out outright. Either way, the assault initially missed, so the blond boy stepped through, aiming a left hook towards the blue-haired girl's neck. A third miss caused Adrien to abandon any attempts at conventional strikes, instead just shoving into her, launching the strike like a rugby player, tackling her with his left shoulder.

Finally, the young Hero-In-training landed a successful strike. Before retaliation could occur, Adrien quickly Teleported both himself and his enemy outside the school building, and allowed her to drop from a three story height. He never saw what happened to her afterwards, as he Teleported back inside the building the second he got away from her, leaving her to see if she could survive the fall on her own. He had far bigger concerns than making sure a Villain survived a fall.

"I got her!" Adrien announced upon his return, removing his mask from his eyes, and letting it hand around his neck. He let out a long winded sigh, and then sucked in a large amount of air from around him. Sweat was dripping from his brow. Fight after fight was draining him of a lot of his stamina.

His return however, was lampshaded by the burn Alya had sustained, leaving her left palm totally singed, like it had just been submerged into boiling water. It was certain to leave behind a very clear, obvious scar that would stay with her for the rest of her days, like Max's. Nino was attempting to alleviate the pain she was suffering by using his Hydrokinesis to keep her hand submerged in cold, clean water, while Marinette was trying to inspect just how bad it was.

Teleporting next to his group of friends, Adrien knelt down to be level height with the Broadband Trait user to see how she was. "Is it bad?"

Even though clearly in a large amount of pain, Alya found a way to grin right through it, even if it was clearly a forced smile. "Barely even a scratch." She responded, looking Adrien right in his green eyes with her magenta ones, showing no sign of fear or pain.

"You're crazy, Alya!" Nino snapped, doing everything he could to gather as much water vapour from around him as possible. Considering that the enemy Adrien had gotten rid of used up a lot of said vapour, it was a trickier task than it normally should have been.

"Crazy got us out of that mess, didn't it?"

"The goal is to get out of this in one piece!"

"Speaking of which…" Adrien said, standing upright, and looking down the corridor to make sure that there were no opponents coming for another battle. Thankfully, there were none. "We need to keep moving. Marinette?"

"On it." The blue haired girl nodded, before turning around and activating her Trait, blocking off the way that they had just come down with another wall of solid concrete. This time, she made sure to add an extra layer or two to the blockade, to get them a little extra more time if any Villains figured out what this wasn't part of the architecture. "Alya, can you walk?"

"I don't walk on my hands, girl. I'm good."

Right now, as they began moving again, they were on the second floor, and the lunch hall was on the third. The reasoning behind such a set up was as basic as one could make it – It was more out of the way than anywhere else in the building. Unfortunately, that meant that it was far more difficult to get there, since the group had started their adventure from the first floor. Currently, they were fighting their way up on the second floor, and since Tundra had been guarding the stairs to the third floor, their journey was nearly over.

Once they were there, they would gain not only a large number of allies whom could aid them, and even begin formulating a variety of counter strategies as well as be on the hunt for any other survivors, but the probability of actually winning this fight increased dramatically. With numbers, their chances increased, and with that, Adrien was certain that they'd be able to push the Villains back.

As per usual, Adrien took the lead when it came to scouting ahead for the group, his natural skill as a fighter, along with his Teleporting abilities made him the perfect member of their group for this. He kept his back to the wall, peeking and checking every single location where there could possibly be someone hiding in wait to strike. The entry way to the third floor was clear, though he could hear the sounds of fighting further down the corridor.

Marinette was responsible for covering their rear, as Nino was helping Alya with his trait, and Alya was injured. Marinette's Atom Duplication Trait would allow her to put up a quick defensive structure that would give them time to plan out their next attack. She kept her hands against the walls, ready to duplicate whatever atoms she needed to use to cover her friends.

After managing to get onto the third floor with minimal difficulty, the group began making its way towards the dining hall, trying to keep as low a profile as they possibly could. They had no way of knowing where their opponents were going to jump out from, and what to expect. The amount of ambushes that they'd already dealt with today wasn't even funny.

"Hey, Mari." Alya muttered towards her best friend, tilting her head over her shoulders to get a look at said girl.

"Yeah?" Keeping her primary focus on watching their back, Marinette could only glance at Alya from the corner of her eye, though she made it clear that she was, in fact, listening to what Alya was saying.

"I was thinking, you and Adrien both seem different lately."

"Different?"

With a nod, Alya confirmed. "Yeah… I dunno how to put it, but you seem more… Like a Hero than you ever have since I've known you. Adrien's always been pretty focused and Heroic… But you've really changed lately."

"How do you mean?" Marinette asked, trying her best not to sweat.

"I dunno how to put it…. But you seem like you know what you're doing more than you did a few weeks ago." The injured girl explained in as vague a manner as possible, though she genuinely struggled to find a way to explain what she was thinking. "It's like… You've done all of this before."

Alya was always very good at noticing smaller details, Marinette remembered, trying her very, very best not to break into a hot sweat. It wasn't like her friend was wrong though – She had done all of this before, as the Vigilante Ladybug. Had her personality as Marinette began to change how she acted when she wasn't behind a mask? She fiddled with her Hero costumes gauntlets, eager to try and make sure that she was prepared for whatever came her way next, but also hoping that if she just ignored the things Alya was saying, that she'd stop thinking aloud and focus on taking her next few steps.

"Well, Adrien did lead that rescue mission to save Chloe." Nino commented absently, still gathering water from around him to apply onto Alya's wound. "He has done this before."

"Yeah, that's true." Admitted the Broadband Trait user, letting out a small sigh.

"H-Hey, Alya, can't you use your powers to see if the attack has been reported yet?" Marinette quickly suggested, taking the opportunity to attempt to change the conversation from her to their current state of affairs.

"No luck." Came the quick reply. "I've been trying since the attack started, but I'm not getting through at all. No signals on my phones either, aside from their hotspot functions."

"It's got to be a Psychic Barrier then." Adrien said suddenly, quickly acquiring the attention of his friends. "Teleporting doesn't work either. I can Teleport within the radius of the school, but if I try to leave, I get a feedback loop. And there aren't any Heroes showing up to help, even though the attack began hours ago... There's no way that people haven't noticed… So the only explanation is that one of the Villains has some sort of Psychic ability that's letting them keep us locked in here, and keep the Heroes locked out." He let out a small sigh. "So if we take out that particular Trait user, we should be able to break down the barrier, and the Heroes will be able to show up to help."

There was a good amount of logic in the words that Adrien was using, and there wasn't a whole lot of reason to doubt him. Based on his track record, and his knowledge and experience regarding Traits and other superpowers, he was probably right. If he wasn't then the same logic could be applied, that some sort of barrier was around the school, keeping them in, and the Heroes out, and their best hope for getting out of this mess alive was to get rid of that barrier.

Even if they had that game plan though, it didn't change the fact they were ridiculously outnumbered, and their experience and training was only going to be so good when it came to dealing with this number of Villains. It was why Adrien was so eager for them to meet up with Shinuya and the rest of the group in the Lunch hall. Once they met up, their chances improved considerably.

All they had to do was get there.

No sooner had that sentence been finished that the entire corridor was suddenly and very rapidly filled up with a sea of dark black smoke, thick enough to cut through with a knife. It attacked the four students with a tremendous amount of force, knocking the air out of them all, and causing them to stagger back as the force of the sudden blast of thick smoke had hit them all straight in the face. It tasted and smelt like charcoal, like it had come from something that had been burning for a while now, causing the students all to choke on top of everything else.

Immediately, they all jumped into their battle modes. Were they being attacked?!

Instantly, Adrien suspected another Teleportation Type Trait user, like himself. The effects seemed to be similar to that of his own, which didn't give him much confidence. He had the advantage when he could Teleport around his opponents. He'd never actually fought against another Teleporter, and he imagined that it would be a very high paced battle, especially if they had a similar effect to his. That could be a huge confusion to his allies.

When the smoke cleared however, it revealed that it wasn't just a single Teleporter. But rather, one supposed Teleporter in a group of three, aided by a group of Akuma, three lizard like ones in their nature. The Villains in question were fairly straight forward – Two Humans, and one Abnormal. The Abnormal individual had a snake like appearance, with a long, scaly tail and skin, while the Human possessed a set of sharpened fangs.

The other Human was none other than Hawkmoth himself.

Smoke began to clear from the room, but none of the participants moved. One the Villains side, it was a degree of confidence that they didn't even really need to make any movement whatsoever, that when faced with danger, the students were destined to crumble under the pressure, and surrender before they had even finished registering who and what was before them.

For the students though, a thousand thoughts were going through their heads, Adrien and Marinette in particular going over more than their fair share of questions rapidly.

_This was Hawkmoth. This was the person they had been so reluctant to fight._

_This was what the Traitors had wanted their help in combating._

_This was their fault. They were the ones who refused to help stop this madman… And this was the result._

_What sort of power did this man possess? Why weren't the Akuma attacking him? Was that his ability? The power to control the actions of Akuma? What sort of Trait did he hold? What did they need to watch out for? What sorts of abilities did his two henchmen have?_

There were no answers to these questions right now, except from the mouth of Hawkmoth himself. Suddenly, they were faced with two options.

Run, or fight.

"I'm going to give you a single chance to surrender." The Villain said, clearly as possible to the four cornered Heroes-In-training. At the sides of him, his warriors readied themselves, preparing to begin the battle should the students opt to launch an attack. "Surrender, and this will be much easier, but if you chose to fight, we won't show a shred of mercy to a single one of you." His glare suddenly came into direct contact with Adrien's line of sight, like he had been seeking out the blond teenager in the midst of all this carnage in particular. "We won't hesitate to kill all of you if you cause us any trouble."

No doubt existed in Adrien's mind that he was serious. There were questions that were swirling around his brain, that needed answers right now. A big part of him was seriously tempted to call Shinuya for backup right this second, consequences to himself later be damned – They needed the back-up, or they were going to get seriously slaughtered here.

Surrender was out of the question. That was a matter of not only their pride as Heroes, but a matter of their self-preservation. No guarantees whatsoever existed that this man was one of his word. For all they knew, the second they surrendered, Hawkmoth would take the opportunity to rip their heads off their bodies.

Deadly blue eyes met defiant green ones. Surrender was a no-go.

Yet for some reason… Adrien was haunted by this man. There was something about this person that was familiar to him, and that was a prospect that freaked him out. The way he seemed to carry himself, almost like a businessman, from the way he spoke down to them as though they were incapable of understanding the world of superpowers that existed around them. A calm demeanour, and a clear voice.

A familiar voice…

For some reason, the Villain's focus seemed to be squarely directed towards Adrien, like no one else was even there, or worth considering. It was no secret that Adrien had a reputation, even outside the CFD, for his Heroic deeds, and family connections to the Hero industry. His name was commonplace worldwide, as a Costume Designers son, as a Hero-in-training, and as a Hero, full stop. Already predicted to be one of the best that Humanity had to offer, due to his genuinely Heroic attitude, and his rare Dual Trait mutation…

Was it possible that Hawkmoth saw some sort of threat, or did he have particular plans in mind for him?...

All Adrien saw was something incredibly simple. Something he'd seen many times in his life, and something that he hated with an absolute burning passion.

He saw evil. He saw pure evil in the eyes of this Villain. Uncaring, unfathomable, and totally illogical evil that burned behind a sea of anger and hatred, that for whatever reason, was being directed at Adrien.

Before Adrien could call for his friends to get in close to him, so he could Teleport them away, the risks be damned, he was stopped from doing so by the occurrence of an explosion, occurring just behind him, propelling someone into the air at a rapid speed, straight past the two bodyguard Villains before they had even registered the movement.

It was Alya. "Go to hell!"

"Alya, wait!"

Her eyes and finger pads magenta, Alya had launched herself towards Hawkmoth with her Trait, and was leading with another left-hand leading jab, preparing herself to unleash unparalleled carnage onto the leader of the assault on their school. Being surrounded by so many people who could just throw themselves into the heat of battle without a seconds though… Alya had volunteered to help rescue Chloe, but she hadn't done much in that battle, only really serving as a distraction against the Echolocation Trait user Slageko, and that always had bothered her since. With a power like hers… She should have been able to clobber him… But she hadn't.

It wasn't much, but she could at least get the first strike against their opponent.

On the other hand though, Hawkmoth almost looked disappointed. He sighed, and closed his eyes, like he had just received bad news, rather than just been attacked. "What a shame."

As she blasted her way through the air, Alya quickly realized something was amiss.

Her Trait had suddenly stopped working. At some point in her torpedoing towards the Villain, her powers had ceased to work. The Wi-Fi signals weren't forming around her arms, and by extension, refusing to allow her to generate any of her shockwaves that she required in order to unleash an actually damaging blast towards her target.

When she came into range with Hawkmoth, she wasn't able to use her powers to Teleport away from him, nor was she able to blast him with a shockwave, or even just use her powers to get away. Her target didn't even need to perform any fancy footwork, or even really dodge her attack. With his right hand, Hawkmoth grabbed a tight grip on Alya's left wrist, stopping her movement outright. The grip along was enough to cause intense pain. For a second, he looked Alya in her defiant eyes.

And then, he tossed her aside using Obliteration, totally destroying her left arm, right up to the shoulder, leaving absolutely nothing but a splatter of blood that then coated the walls around him.

Hawkmoth – Trait – Obliteration – Hawkmoth possesses the ability to completely annihilate anything that he touches. When he activates this power, his body sends a huge amount of energy onto a specific target, causing it to explode outwardly, without the requirements of creating an explosion with nitroglycerine. The amount of force is so great that, when activated, Obliteration will leave nothing left of what it has destroyed. He can only use this Trait if his palm is against what he wishes to destroy. Overusing this Trait will cause the aftereffects of the explosions to be redirected back into its user.

There was a moment of silence as the group watched Alya's arm get torn right off, mostly out of sheer disbelief. Not a single one of the CFD students was able to comprehend what was happening in that moment, and just watched in sheer horror as their friend was tossed aside like a ragdoll, left to fall, thankfully unconscious from the sheer shock and pain of the ruthless attack.

"A…Alya!" Both Nino and Marinette suddenly screamed the name of the tanned Broadband Trait user at the same time, their horror reflected in their faces and voices. Neither of them had fully registered what had happened to her.

Adrien did though, and he was suddenly overcome with hate.

Arrogance flowing through the bodyguard Villains, the Human of which revealed himself to be an Electric type Trait user, judging by the static electricity that was generating from around his teeth, both seemed to assume that the brutal display that Hawkmoth had provided would be enough to make the students surrender out of fear of what they could do.

"You…" Adrien shuddered as his Destruction Trait activated, his entire arms becoming dark black as he steeled himself to strike. His voice quivered with every single letter he pronounced, his entire body trembling. He'd never felt this before. Nothing this intense. Nothing so…

Dark.

With one swing, Adrien launched an attack towards the Electric Type Human, his open palm strike hitting his opponent exactly where he had wanted it to.

In the face. Launching himself forward with as much physical strength as he was capable of doing so, he pushed his target towards the ground, ignoring every single shriek of pain that came from his target. Gone was any sense and reason.

He just wanted blood.

"You bastards!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, pushing his hand further and further onto his target, until the Human ceased moving. Before the snake-like villain could even make a move, Adrien Teleported right next to his, and launched a knife-edge strike to the jugular, using his hand like a knife to tear open the veins in the neck of the Abnormal target, and with exactly the same results, not taking more than a single strike to rip open his targets neck. "Die!"

In less than three seconds, Adrien had single handedly killed both of the bodyguard villains, and still, the disturbing, terrifying bloodlust that was evident in his normally beautiful green eyes wasn't even close to being sated. His friends watched him with a mixture of pleasure and terror, seeing the Heroic Adrien Agreste tear apart two villains in this assault.

And he wasn't done yet. Teleporting just above Hawkmoth, Adrien allowed gravity to pull him towards the Villain at max speed, while letting out a screeching battle cry and the distance between them shorted rapidly. "Fucking die, you bastard Villain!"

With that, the same burst of smoke that had first occurred upon Hawkmoth and his subordinate's arrival appeared again, battering Adrien with its sudden occurrence. Gravity, however, didn't care for his plight, eyes stinging or not, and he continued to fall down at speed. Still, he prepared to swing his arm, and end Hawkmoth's miserable life, once and for all!

Except… When the smoke cleared, and Adrien charged through, Hawkmoth was gone.

A Dual Trait? Was he also a Teleporter?...

The snarls of the Akuma however, still filled the room. With Hawkmoth gone, they suddenly had returned to their feral roots, and seemed just about ready to begin tearing up the entire building.

"Bring it on then." The young Hero-In-Training muttered, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to continue the fight.


	30. Dark Inside

Marinette had done her very best to seal up Alya's horrendous wound with her Trait, duplicating as much skin as she could to prevent infection and loss of blood, but it was only having a limited amount of effect to help the poor girl. Hawkmoth's attack had been utterly ruthless. It left Alya totally unconscious, thankfully unable to feel the pain.

She was at least alive, which was a good sign… But it wasn't going to last long at all.

Blood loss wasn't going to be what killed Alya – Shock was going to get her before that happened. Unless she found immediate medical attention, Alya wasn't going to survive this attack. Her entire nervous system would be absolutely shattered, and the amount of blood she was losing was certainly not going to help at all. Combined, it was virtually a recipe for death.

And that wasn't something that Adrien, Marinette, nor Nino were prepared to allow to happen.

"Come on, come on!..." Marinette rapidly muttered to herself as she copied the various atoms to generate as much skin as possible, using it, and replications of the clothes that she was wearing to use as a substitution as a bandage. The scent of blood was making her sick, and it didn't help that she was looking at her injured best friend…

Who was now missing her _entire left arm_!

Heroes were supposed to get used to this sort of thing. Marinette was totally aware of this. Ladybug had seen a lot of thugs and beaten them into the ground in order to help protect the peace… Marinette had seen this all before… She knew that the truth behind Heroism was, in fact, that they were like soldiers. They had deal with violence things, face dangerous people, and see their friends getting injured, or even killed in the line of duty. She understood all of that, and had even come to accept it throughout her Hero career…

The fact that she'd have to deal with all of this violence… The fact that she'd have to face this sort of thing over again and again and again… Those were things she'd come to accept as part of her Hero career…

But this… This was on a whole other level.

It made her want to vomit. The true barbarity of the conflict between Heroism and Villainy.

That Hawkmoth was really a true Villain.

That she'd been stupid enough to doubt the Traitor group.

That if she'd just listened to Fu… To Shinuya… That this whole mess could have been avoided…

That… The deaths that had happened today had… Been on her.

Her and Chat. Those deaths were on them…

The deaths were something that was giving her chills. She'd fought Villains, thugs, school kids her age who held pretty nasty grudges… Yet she'd never seen a Hero… Or someone who wanted to be a Hero… Actually kill someone. Heroes were supposed to take their targets alive when they could… But she understood that sometimes, lethal force was the only real way to solve a conflict. To protect the civilians. To protect themselves… It was part of the job. It was just something that they had to accept…

But seeing Adrien… Being the one to use his Destruction Trait to actually… Kill someone…

Adrien was the kindest, sweetest person that Marinette had ever met in her life… He was such a genuinely heroic person, and he showed such a seriously honest personality. He was a good person, and the way he acted…. Nothing was hidden behind those green eyes… And when he talked about becoming a Hero... When he talked about how much he wanted to help people… He so clearly meant it. Marinette admired him so, so much for it.

Hell, loved him for it.

So seeing him… So easily kill those Villains…

It wasn't like they didn't deserve it. She wasn't going to even attempt to argue that in the slightest. The news showed that every single day, Villains were growing more and more dangerous, and Hawkmoth had proven that he wasn't the type that was going to show even a shred of mercy to them… Even if they were teenagers – Still children.

Alya's arm… Was proof enough of that.

Yet Adrien… He had killed those Villains without a second thought, not even a shred of remorse visible in his eyes, his words, or anything that he'd done since. Blood still covered his hands, not having bothered to remove it, not even seemingly like it concerned him. Shouldn't someone like Adrien, who had talked about the duty and purpose of Heroes as people who protected… that their powers, they might be dangerous… but they weren't to be used to kill and cause catastrophe heedlessly.

And he'd just cut them down, without even making it look difficult. He had the Traits for it…

But it was unsettling just how quickly he'd turned from calm, and collected, to an outright killer.

He was angry – Marinette understood that, and so was she. Nino was terrified, but beyond furious at the prospect of Alya dying like this. His Trait was active, collecting water from whatever sources he could find – Water vapour, small levels of liquid, even the sweat from his allies' bodies. He was ready, and he was prepared to be ruthless as his enemies were. For all its inconveniences and restrictions, Nino's Trait was incredibly powerful. Given enough liquid around him, he'd be near unstoppable. As he grew as a Hero, his control over his power was rapid, and his strength increased tenfold since she had first met him.

That same control had never been demonstrated more than it was right now – All he needed was the slightest twitch from something around him, and he was ready to totally submerge and drown it if that was what it was going to take to keep Alya safe.

Nino and Adrien were scouting the way, making sure that no Villains were in waiting to ambush them before they made their way through the last few corridors to Adrien's proposed dining hall hideout. Once they got there, Adrien was certain that they'd find some medical supplies – Probably to stuff that was kept in the room for emergencies, like choking, or a fire. There might be something to help…

And if there wasn't… At least there'd be something to cauterize Alya's wound with. Terrifying a prospect as that sounded.

"We're clear on the left." Adrien reported, peeking around the side, Destruction activated in his right hand. As he rested his palm on the wall behind him, the wall's paint and the surface layer of the bricks it covered began to disintegrate and crumble as the Trait affected it, corroding the atoms to dust.

"Clear right." Nino responded, about a litre and a half of various liquids surrounding him, with two smaller pockets of liquids around his hands, for ease of access to his enemies if he wound up in a fist-fight. The rest hovered behind him, like a tidal wave waiting to be unleashed – A feat Nino was very capable of doing were he near an ocean, and in the right mood to do so. "And clear ahead. We're good to keep moving."

Both in full costume, they were in the mind-set of Heroes completely. All their training was coming into play – The training that was worth a damn, anyway. In a real conflict, both had learned from previous experience, their training was only worth so much. They had to rely on their wit, their initiative, and skill in order to survive this world. All the lessons went out the window when faced with an enemy that had a serious intent to kill them. When real, real danger was right in front of them.

Following closely behind them, Marinette, confident that she'd done everything Humanly possible with her Trait, and under these conditions for her friend, and had lifted her onto her back, like she were granting a piggyback ride. Keeping her hand on a metal coin which she pressed against Alya's leg, just in case the need to erect a strong defensive wall were needed at some point with little but a moment's notice.

"Watch the rubble." Adrien warned, glancing over toward Nino's side and pointing towards a pile of battered debris, walls broken by battle that previously must have taken place nearby. No doubt existed in Adrien's head that it been from when Shinuya or his group had been backing off to their barricade in the dining hall.

Blood splatters would explain that, if it had belonged to Shinuya's Blood Manipulating abilities.

At least, he hoped that's where they had come from.

"This isn't good, this isn't good…" Nino repeated to himself, keeping all his effort on trying to retain his composure. "How long has it been since this attack even started?..."

"Maybe three hours…" Marinette responded, trying to shift Alya's weight while she was on her back, feeling a bone click into place. It felt like it had been a lot longer than any three hours, but the clocks didn't lie. Alya's phone, disturbingly not totally destroyed from when Hawkmoth had blasted her limb into a bloody red mist, indicated that the attack had begun three or four hours ago.

The first hour or so had been a hectic battle as students and faculty had fought tooth and nail to fend off the Villains, until they had seemingly been overpowered, perhaps thanks to the Explosions guy and the loyalty brainwashing guy, and other powerful Villains that they didn't even know about yet. Aside from that, most of that time had been spent with them trying to sneak through the building without being detected by the many Villains that had entered the place.

Powerful as Hawkmoth was, with that Obliteration ability, he wasn't strong enough to do this all on his own. The Villains he had brought with him had some strong abilities, as had been seen with the ones they had fought.

"And no Heroes have arrived to help, barely anyone on our side seems to be around…" The Hydrokinetic Trait user let his sentence trail off, and allowed himself to gulp.

No one was talking about it, but they all understood what it meant. With as few allies around in comparison to Villains, then it implied that they were all alone… And even if they weren't they were vastly outnumbered. The Heroes hadn't been able to break that Psychic Barrier that Adrien had mentioned, and so far hadn't made any headway on negotiating a way out – If they were even going to try to reason with Villains.

"…So we're… Totally on our own." He finished, a few seconds later, with a depressed sigh.

Nihilism was a difficult thing to combat in these dangerous situations. No one could blame Nino for thinking like that in the slightest. All of them, deep down, felt the same way – That they were fighting a losing battle. They had been caught unawares, and now they were about to pay the price for being so unprepared, so arrogant as to think that they would be totally safe within the city walls.

"No way we're on our own." The blond Dual Trait user said with absolute certainty, determination in his eyes. Shinuya and his group were still fighting off Villains as far as he knew, and he wasn't prepared to give up on them quite yet. And even if they were gone, there had to be others still holding out against the attacks. "We're in a school that trains Heroes. We won't go down that easy."

With another sigh, Nino looked over to his best friend, dull brown eyes in place of his usual, lively golden ones. "The confidence is reassuring dude… But take a look around. The school's wrecked, we're on our own, we're totally outnumbered, Alya's…" A lump in his throat caused the dark skinned boy to coke on his own words, forcing him to fight back against the quickly approaching tears. "…We're fighting a battle we can't win here…. You know we are."

"We'll win when we kill that bastard Hawkmoth."

Nino seemed to just let himself nod. "Well, at least we'll get to break him before we get freaking killed." Tilting his head, he looked towards the wide eyed blue girl. "Marinette, is Alya okay?"

"She… She's okay." Marinette nodded, though she did so with a lump in her throat.

Adrien and Nino… This even had shaken them. It had shaken her… But now they seemed to be different people.

They wanted blood. They seemed to be on the warpath, and it was justly understandable…

But it shook Marinette. It scared her, to be honest. Alya was their friend, of course she was… And Hawkmoth had done this to her. Wanting revenge, it was natural…

But wasn't that the same logic that those Feuer kids had used when they kidnapped Chloe? Wasn't it the same logic that Villains used to justify their actions? Wasn't it the same logic that people used to justify morally ambiguous or outright immoral actions in the name of justice and righteousness?

Wasn't that… What Villains did?

Wasn't… Weren't Heroes supposed to rise above it?...

Or was it her that wasn't thinking things clearly? Was it her that wasn't changing for the better?... Were they right? And was she wrong?...

She shook her head. These attacks were messing with her… And she was getting tired. Alya didn't exactly weigh a small amount, and even with one limb now gone, she wasn't exactly light. Plus, the constant use of her Trait to seal off the rout they had just come down was exhausting her as well. Duplicating this many atoms was a first for her, and it was starting to affect her cognitive functions. Still, she pressed on. Rest at this moment wasn't an option, unless she wanted a Villain to jump out and slit her throat. Until they were in some sort of safe location, rest just wasn't an option.

Briefly, Marinette toyed with the idea of creating a stroller or something for Alya… But she didn't possess enough power or skill with her Trait to do that yet… So that idea died quickly. Dragging her along the ground by wrapping her in some padded cloth was also thrown out the window, since someone could sneak up behind and just finish her off. Shortcuts weren't going to work here.

Even Adrien Teleporting them was a risk. There wasn't any way to know what was in the dining hall...

Being safe and smart…. It was certainly exhausting, if nothing else of note.

"Aarrrgh, get off!"

In less than a split second, Marinette and Adrien's eyes shot right over towards Nino, his sudden yell sounding like a shriek in their eardrums. From the rubble he had walked past, a bone-skinny, deranged looking pale man had grasped onto Nino's wrist hard, and had tugged it close towards his eyes like he was entranced by the darker tones, as if he'd never met someone who wasn't a paler skin tone in his life.

Only as he grabbed hold on Nino, the dark skinned boy's skin was melting.

"Such pretty skin…"

" _Aaaaaargh_!" With a twist of his hands, digging deeper into the fleshy tendon sheaths, this madman was able to cause Nino's wrists to turn, bringing him quickly to his knees, and rendering his Trait basically useless due to the sheer pain he was in had basically deactivated his Trait, unable to focus on anything else but his skin literally melting from his body.

"Get the hell off him!" Adrien shot straight into action, Teleporting towards the altercation within a second of hearing his friend's cries of pain, and launching a martial arts knife-edge strike towards the hand of the Villain that had burst out of the rubble like an ambush predator. The aim was directed towards the Villain's wrist, with every intention, and no hesitation, to tear off the hand that the Villain had on Nino from the wrist down, dismembering the attacker and freeing the Hero-In-Training.

With an impressive speed, almost like a Jaguar, the Villain just leapt out of the way, and began running like hell down the corridors, giggling and laughing like a deranged psychopath. For such a skinny frame, he moved like an Olympic athlete, and was gone before anyone noticed.

Before the impulse to Teleport and kill Nino's attacker reached Adrien's brain, he stopped it. As much as he wanted to charge down and kill this villain, his desire for bloodlust seriously surging through him now, aiding his friend was more important – And he wasn't sure he'd even be able to Teleport to the exact location where the Villain in time.

"Nino!" Marinette called his name in concern, almost dropping Alya as she impulsively reached out to grab his to help seal his wound. Prioritizing her limbless friend over the simply injured one, with reluctance, Marinette pulled her hand back and allowed Adrien to inspect the wound.

Whatever ability that the Villain had, it had caused Nino's skin to boil and melt off, exposing some of his muscle fibres. Blood seeped from the wound, and it clearly was causing Nino a huge amount of distress, but there was little that could be done. Dead skin dangled off his arms, hanging on by threads, only a few millimetres strong in various places.

It looked a mess, put simply. And if it wasn't treated, it was going to get infected.

"Crap, crap…" Adrien muttered. "Dude, man, look at me." He tapped Nino's back, trying to offer what comfort he could while mixed with trying to get the agony-filled Hydrokinetic to co-operate with him. Though it took a few seconds, Nino did eventually follow the basic instructions given to him, though he looked agonised for doing so. "Dude, I need you to tell me if you can still use your Trait – We gotta keep that wound as clean as possible. The last thing we need is it getting infected."

"You think?!" Snapped the agitated boy, before grimacing and attempting to activate his Trait with his uninjured arm. The reaction time that he normally used his Trait at was slower than it standard, which was virtually instant, but he managed to pull to some of the water from the soaked ground due to his dropping of the water earlier, and was able to manipulate it just around him, only a few inches away from the ground at a time. The pain was slowing down his ability to move the water, it feeling like it weighed more than it in fact did.

"Easy does it, Nino…"

Upon contact with the wound, Nino had to seriously fight against screaming aloud. It stung, hurt like holy hell the second that it made contact with the exposed muscle on his arm, and his had to bite down on his own tongue, to the point where he could taste the iron seeping from the blood he was drawing, so he didn't scream and alert any Villain to where they were located.

"There!"

Hearing that voice again, Adrien began to really, really – _Really_ – _**Really**_ – Wish that he'd killed that villain.

As the injured Hydrokinetic, angered Teleporter, and exhausted Atom Duplicator looked towards the sound that had originated from the way they had just come, they were now met with a set of three eyes looking back at them, all three belonging to Villains that were out for blood.

The first one being that Skin-melting one, whom was giving an expression like he'd just ratted out the bad children in some sort of school – His mental stability was seriously in question – Pointing at them with a childish smile. Dishevelled blonde hair ran down to his chest, bare and without clothing, revealing his skin compressed up against his bones.

Secondly, there was Tundra – The Boiling-Ice Villain that Adrien had thrown out a window not too long ago, revealing that not only had she survived, but that she was also hunting down the group with intentions to get her revenge on them. Her blue eyes were focused on Adrien, generating ice in her palm as she readied her powers to boil him with the frozen form of the most bountiful liquid on the planet with an ability that defied the laws of physics in their superhuman world.

Finally, there was a large, bulky male, whom none of them had seen before, who wore a tank-top vest, one similar to the one Adrien wore in his Hero costume. His very arms appeared to be filled with rocks for how large they were, easily surpassing the limits of what was naturally possible for an Abnormal, never mind a Human. Despite that, he was very clearly a Human being, lacking either the marking of a Primal, or the inhumane features of an Abnormal. Excluding his ridiculous muscle structure, he had no obvious Physical Quirks.

"Shit!" Adrien cursed. "Marinette, block the corridor, now!"

Reacting quickly, Marinette flung her left hand towards the Villainous group, activating her Trait with the metal coin in her left, generating a glowing light as she duplicated the atoms of the coin – Copper being the most prevalent in the Euro coin she had her hand against, so that was what she used. Had she more time, she would have chosen a stronger material, but all she knew was that she needed to create a wall between her and her enemies, and she needed to make it right now.

No sooner had the glow begun to generate a few atoms of Copper in her palm, had the skinny skin melting maniac suddenly gotten into very close proximity to her, his hand already lunging towards her face. With Alya still totally unconscious on her back, Marinette was totally unable to dodge, unless she moved backwards. She did so, but it wasn't even close to being enough to get away from this person on a permanent basis.

The longest finger, the middle one, was barely a few centimetres from her face –

Until Adrien, coming out of a Teleport, launched a downwards axe kick targeted at the ulna, near the point where the bicep met the forearm, jerking the skinny man's hand away from Marinette.

"Mari, Nino, run!" He yelled, launching another kick at his target, this time a wide-roundhouse, making sure to pull his attacks back after impact before his enemy got a chance to use his odd yet dangerous Trait against him. "Get to the dining hall, I'll keep these guys busy!"

Marinette attempted to protest, loudly. There was no way she could just leave him here to fight against three Villains solo! "But – "

Launching another flurry of kicks against the skinny Villain, Adrien yelled "Mari, Nino's injured, and Alya needs your help! Worst comes to it, I'll Teleport out!"

"But – "

"Fucking _**go**_!" He screamed at them, dodging another incoming attack. "Now!"

"Marinette, we gotta go!" Nino echoed, agreeing to Adrien's plan. With his uninjured arm, he tugged at Marinette's shoulder, trying to drag her along. He understood her hesitation to abandon Adrien in a fight, but he also understood the pragmatic situation that they found themselves in.

He was injured, and Alya was lacking a limb. His priority was to make sure that Alya got help, as soon as possible. And it was Adrien's goal too. Comparatively, Nino's injury was minor, but it was now preventing him from carrying Alya on his own, so Marinette could stay and fight. That was why Adrien was fighting – To give them the chance to escape to get Alya to a place where she would receive the medical attention she needed before her dismemberment killed her.

If they stayed, they'd just be in the way.

So, he started pulling Marinette away. "If we don't go, Adrien's not gonna be able to fight properly. He's gonna have to spend half his energy making sure we're okay – We _need_ to go! Get Alya some help!"

"You special little shits aren't going anywhere!" Tundra yelled, slamming her palms into the ground, and from her thermoregulatory powers, spikes of surface-boiling ice began to charge down the corridor, covering the right-side wall and part of the floor, aiming to seal off their escape route now that the girl who had broken down her barriers before was lacking the ability to stop her. Once they were trapped in the corridor, she would simply fill it with boiling ice, frying them like they were on a grill.

Acting rapidly, Adrien dodged a right swing from his skinny enemy, and then grabbed hold of the clothing one his arm, so he made no direct contact with his enemy's skin – As he had no way of knowing if his powers were skin transmitted, or hand transmitted, so this made his chances of staying safe greater – And Teleported with his new weapon in hand.

Reappearing in a puff of black next to Tundra, Adrien, putting all of his strength into it, threw his skinny opponent towards the Boiling-Ice Trait user. Neither one of them was expecting it, as it all transpired within the course of about a second, before anyone had the time to react to his actions, thought the impact did make Tundra's Trait deactivate as she lost her focus, and was knocked over by a Human battering ram.

Taking advantage of the assault, Nino fully grabbed hold of Marinette, and dragged her away from the battle, forcing her to turn heel and run, only able to leave her thoughts with Adrien as he kept up the fighting.

"Thank God." Adrien sighed with relief for a brief moment, before refocusing his attention to the task at hand.

Behind him, the absurdly muscular male launched a reverse punch attack towards the Teleporter, which was easily avoided by simply Teleporting. Reappearing in the air next to the muscle-man's head, he unleashed a good roundhouse-kick to the side of his opponents head, before Teleporting back away.

While he would have taken the opportunity to kill his enemy, he was reaching his limit when it came to Destruction. Soon, his skin would begin to peel and disintegrate from his own body in large chunks, worse than any previous feedback he'd gotten today previously. This meant he couldn't waste uses of his secondary Trait on attacks he wasn't sure were going to take out an opponent. With this in mind, he couldn't attack the muscle-man without knowing what Trait he had, as it could backfire and cause Adrien to hurt himself. It also meant that using it against that skinny Villain was a no-go, until he learned if the attack was hand or skin transmitted.

"Son of a –" Tundra cursed violently, pushing said Skinny Villain off of her and yelling at him like he were a deaf fool. "God damn it, Kure, get up off me and melt that little shit's skin down to his damn bones!"

After shaking his head rapidly for a few moments, a disturbing grin made its way onto the one that Adrien had thrown. "A pleasure!" The skinny Villain, Kure, seemed to giggle at, before leaping towards Adrien again, palms ready tom strike.

Kure Shkrirje – Trait – Skin Melting – When Kure makes contact with his opponent, he is able to transmit a huge level of heat that causes his opponents skin to melt. His power works by the atoms in his own skin heating up rapidly, which then transfer to his targets skin, causing it to melt due to over-abundances of foreign ability only works against skin, despite skin being made out of common elements, such as Carbon, Oxygen and Nitrogen. A drawback to this Trait is that overusing it will cause Kure's own skin to before deformed, as well as cause him a large amount of pain.

An advantage Adrien always enjoyed when it came to fighting contact-based opponents was the fact that with his Teleporting ability, he was a difficult target to hit, meaning he could, theoretically, jump all day long around his targets like it were a breeze, were it not for his stamina, which was running dangerously low. He didn't have too many Teleports left in him either, meaning that he was going to have to rely on what few Teleports he had left in him, and hand-to-hand combat, until he figured out how Kure's attacks worked, and if it was safe to kill him via conventional attack methods, or if he was going to need to drop a rock on his head of something when he had enough stamina to lift said rock while Teleporting

First up was a left swing, open palmed, which Adrien was able to move along with, preventing it from getting close to any of his skin. The hand came far too close for comfort as far as the young Parisian was concerned anyway, so he took a step back for the next attack, which was the opposing arm being used in an claw-shaped uppercut attack, again, barely missing Adrien by the skin of his teeth.

Clearly, this Villain was an experienced fighter.

It made his Trait even odder than previously – Because it would inflict a lot of pain, sure, but it wasn't immediately fatal... Actually, the more Adrien thought about it, it made more sense that this guy was a good fighter. When he thought about it – It meant that he was conditioned to fight by necessity. He had to be good and hand-to-hand, and make use of his Trait where he could to give him the advantage.

"Let me feel your skin!"

Not that it made him less of a disturbingly terrifying psychotic madman. That had nothing to do with his Trait, he was just a lunatic because he was messed up in the head.

Another lunge, this time deflected by Adrien using his foot to kick it out of the way, relying on the hope that this Trait couldn't transmit through clothing to keep his body safe. Through his shin was skimmed against by his targets hands, he was unaffected – Meaning that the Trait required skin-to-skin contact. Now it was just a case of if this applied to just his hands, or his entire body. After that, an accurate battle plan could be made. The only issue was that of figuring out how the power worked.

He's have to either trick him into touching ones of his allies, or by grabbing his skin himself, and figuring out if it was activation based. Both options were really damn dangerous, and Adrien seriously doubted that he'd be able to manage either. He could just go for a slice to the neck and deal with what happened… But he needed to be in top condition. He needed to be able to fight alongside his classmates. Self-injury wasn't an option.

"Die, Hero!" After another skid away from the Skin-Melting Villain, Adrien caught the glimpse of Tundra picking herself up and generating yet another mountainous pile of boiling hot ice, spreading towards his at a rapid pace.

In reflex, Adrien Teleported back, abandoning the plans he had to try to discover the weakness of his enemies in favour of self-preservation. Ducking down to make his area of impact much smaller, Adrien backed up about five meters, evading the entire width of the corridor being covered in the burning ice for at least five meters in length.

Thankfully, Tundra, as it turned out, hadn't quite planned this far ahead, since none of those Villains had a Trait that seemed to be able to get them through the –

"Roid, don't be an – "

No more than a quarter of a second passed after hearing that muffled protest did Adrien need to Teleport backwards even more, to evade a humongous, giant first and arm suddenly shooting down the entire corridor, shattering the ice entirely, and nearly smacking Adrien front on. The impact of the strike was easily capable of shattering solid ice without leaving burn makes… But it did have one positive for Adrien.

It had blocked the corridor, and the Villains seemed to be making an in vain effort to pull his arm back… Meaning he was stuck.

Roid – Trait – Hypertrophy – This Trait allows the user to grow their limbs to huge sizes. An arm, for example, could become the size of a lorry. However, the user can only activate one limb at a time, and they cannot change it back to normal for sixty seconds, whereupon it will automatically go back to normal size. Additionally, the user will not be able to make another limb grow for a further sixty seconds, before being able to do so again. This make using the power while in a confined space a very dangerous prospect.

"You idiot!" Adrien could hear Tundra shriek from the other side, muffled even more so than when it was just ice blocking the way. "Now how the fuck are we supposed to grab those little shits?!"

"You're the person who blocked the way forward." Roid responded, devoid of any emotion. "This is faster than waiting for it to melt. We need only wait a minute for my arm to shrink."

A minute… Sixty seconds…

If Adrien ran like hell, combined with his Teleporting… He would probably be able to make it to Shinuya's group at the dining hall. Marinette, Nino and Alya… They'd probably made it there by now, if they were moving at top speeds, and weren't attacked by any Villain groups. Then this entire sneaking around affair was going to be over.

They'd be able to formulate an attack strategy.

Able to plan to get rid of all the Villains in this damn invasion. Kill every last one of them…

And they'd be able to kill Hawkmoth especially.

Ten seconds were wasted as Adrien thought all about this, and was still in a minor state of shock at the Hypertrophy Trait in front of him. That left him with fifty seconds to get a move on, to re-join his allies and get to plotting.

So he Teleported, and got moving.

But he certainly had words he planned on having with Shinuya. 

He was _pissed_. 

* * *

"Shinuya! We've got three more students coming up!" Kuragari reported, phasing through the many barriers that had been put up between them and the outside world. His red eyes caught their leader's attention before the words that came out of his made their way to his ears. "I think its Adrien's group!"

The red eyes of the Trait Absorption user perked up when he heard that name. It had been a while since he'd heard from the Dual Trait user, and he was honestly starting to lose the hope that he was even going to make it here alive. He might have plenty of experience, but he sure hadn't seen the pure ruthlessness of Hawkmoth and his forces. They were a whole different sort of Villain organization. Their goals and ambitions were still a mystery, and whatever their goal was, it couldn't be good. It just couldn't – No way in hell.

No one this violent had a goal that could be achieved legally, or without extreme casualties.

"Bring them in the second that you have range!" Ordered the Japanese teenager, before returning his attention back to the wounded individual he was attempting to care for. A large stab wound through the forearm, and underneath the ribs. Like himself, the wounded male was only sixteen, which somehow made the wounds worse to deal with, from a psychological stance, anyway. From a biological one, it made things easier, since younger peoples wounds tended to heal faster, but it was a cruel reminded of the damage that was being done to people who hadn't even done anything to deserve it.

Hawkmoth was a cruel son of a bitch, no matter what way you sliced it. These actions were unjustifiable, no matter how Shinuya tried to do it. He didn't even want to try to understand that evil man. That person… He was barley even sentient anymore. He wasn't Human, Primal, or Abnormal.

He was just a monster.

"Okay, that should do it for you, Francis, just take it easy now, okay?" He assured his schoolmate, tightening the bandages around his wounds by using his Blood Manipulation ability to more precisely fasten the absorbing cloth where needed. The Primal student nodded, deciding that this Human knew what he was doing.

Within the sealed off room, there were only a few actual members of the Traitor group, though they had managed to help protect about twelve regular students otherwise. Actual Traitors included Shinuya, Kuragari, Flinch, and Sureshot. Flinch's violet skin made him easy to spot, and Sureshot's Trait had been useful at keeping Villains at bay. Matched with Kuragari's ability to phase and rescue the people outside, and Shinuya's own variety of powers due to Trait Absorption, they had been able to hold their own for a respectable amount.

And the Traits of the students with them had come in handy. A Telekinetic Type and a Fire Type had helped in fighting off any charges of Villains. Five other students, Markus, Brynne, Hoshi, Dae and Syltris in particular had also been helping to fight like hell while a Healing Type and Hypnosis Type had been helping deal with any of the wounded. A Moulding Type had helped create the barriers, while a Generation Type had provided the materials. They had been able to hold their own… But they weren't going to make it at this rate.

They needed a plan of action. A way to break through the line, get rid of this Psychic Barrier, and contact the outside to get help. Adrien's group arriving would be the increase in manpower that they needed. Sixteen strong, and they might be able to achieve a victory here, even if it came at a heavy cost to themselves.

Though that was the Traitors code – No individual was above the group. No sacrifice wasn't worth completing the objective. Fight or die. That was how the world worked.

"Kuragari's bringing them in!" One of the students called out, pointing towards the door with a bony, green finger.

Turning his head to face the blocked off door to see Kuragari halfway, he looked panicked, and Shinuya suddenly saw why, very quickly. One of the students had a nasty wound on their arm, and the other had lost theirs altogether!

"Oh my God, what happened?!"

"Holy shit…"

"Is she dead?"

"No she's not dead!" Nino yelled back at the muttering crowd, desperately glancing between the students. He had had no clue that people had managed to set up a defensive blockade around the dining halls, but he looked, praying to God that someone here was going to be able to help. "Do – Do you have a healer?!"

"Right here!" The Healing student called out, making her way towards the armless girl, before flinching. "I-I can't do anything until the wound has been sealed. Dae, get your dragon ass over here!"

Using the large wings attached to her back, the fire-Type Trait using girl made her way over the tables and heads of the other students, before finally landing next to the healer. "Need me to cauterise her wound?"

"That's right. Come on, help me move her."

"I got her!" The Telekinetic Trait user called over, already using his ability to lift Alya up into the air, and onto the table nearby, so both Dae and the Healer were going to be able to work on the unconscious girl a lot easier.

Generating fire in her palms, Dae looked at the wound, and flinched slightly. "Thank God she's not awake… Cause I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna fuckin' _hurt_."

"C-Can I-"

Turning to Nino, the Healer made direct eye contact with him and said as flatly as possible, her eyes almost looking dead. "Dude, you do _not_ wanna watch this happen to your girlfriend. This will really freaking scare you…. Your arm!" It seemed that suddenly, for the first time, the Healer noticed the awful wound on Nino's arm. The melted skin, and exposed muscle, it had totally slipped Nino's mind, his focus on making sure Alya got away okay, taking the thought away from his own injury. Now that he was away of it, he felt the cold air stinging on it, and the throbbing that his pulse was causing. "Jesus Christ, what happened to you people?! Syltris, get some cold clean water and cover up this guy's wound, before it's infected!"

When it came to medical leadership, Kara's Recovery Trait and training made her the best in these situations, at least in Shinuya's opinion. When she saw an injured person, she took charge like she was commanding a platoon of hardened solders and Heroes. He felt it best to just get out of her way when she was doing this. She'd make an excellent Traitor, he knew that much. Now wasn't the time to bring that up though.

Looking at the people here… Adrien wasn't among them, and that filled the red haired male with concern. He recognized the students, of course, Alya Cesair, the one lacking an arm, Nino Lahiffe, with the skin injury, and Marinette-Dupain-Cheng, the blue haired girl with the impressive Atomic Duplication ability called Conversion.

No Adrien – No Chat Noir – Though. And that was a problem. A very big problem indeed. Without him being here, the very real fear that he had been captured or gotten himself killed. "Agreste – Where is he?" He questioned, subtlety dropped entirely in his desire for answers.

Turning her head, Marinette, for the first time, noticed Shinuya. She recognised him from the time she and Chat Noir had first met Master Fu and the Traitors group, and seemed surprised for a moment to see him here, though it didn't last long. With someone with as much experience as Shinuya must have had, surviving and fortifying a place up during an attack must have been a fairly easy task for him.

After all, he was a hell of a warrior…

But…

… "…What are you talking about? " The blue haired girl asked. Her eyebrow quirked to look at Shinuya like something was seriously wrong with him. What was he talking about? She honestly didn't have the first clue.

"I mean where's Adrien Agreste? What do you mean, 'What are you talking about?'"

"I mean how the hell do you know Adrien was with us in the first place?"

Flinch and Sureshot looked over to Shinuya, both of them realizing what he had done at the exact same time he had. He'd slipped up. For all the talk he made of making sure to keep things a secret… He'd slipped up. This was bad. Very bad. If they found out about Adrien and Shinuya talking via those devices…

It could link them back to the Vigilante Traitor group. It could link Adrien back to the Traitor group. It could totally expose them! All because Shinuya had let his tongue slip that he knew Adrien was with Marinette's group.

There was a tense second in the room, where nobody moved, and all eyes were on the Vigilante and the recently arrived Hero-In-Training, secret Vigilante. Their eyes were locked with one another's, Marinette's narrower, like she were peering into Shinuya, to see what she could find out about him, while Shinuya's were wide, aware he'd just been caught out in one of the most stupid ways possible.

"I – "

Before a single answer could be given, a puff of black smoke filled the room without warning, directly in-between Marinette and the red haired Japanese student. Both staggered back in surprise, while some of the surrounding students prepared to attack whoever the hell had just leaped into the room, reacting quickly, their nerves about their current situation kicking in quickly and efficiently.

Though a pair of green eyes and a head of blond hair revealed the Teleporter to be none other than the aforementioned Adrien Agreste, in the flesh, alive, and unharmed. Aside from the huge amounts of sweat that he was soaked in, he seemed totally fine.

"Adrien!" Marinette gasped, in relief so great it threatened to make her collapse and laugh at the same time. "You're okay!"

"Holy crap, Adrien, you're alive?" Shinuya responded with equal surprise. "I thought for sure you were – "

Not another word was uttered. With speed and a leap, Adrien charged and slammed his forearm against Shinuya's throat, and pinned him against the nearest wall, growling and showing off his white teeth. He looked ready to tear out Shinuya's throat, and from what had been seen today, Marinette actually feared that he might.

Everyone readied their Traits to be used against the Hero-In-training.

"Step down!"

"Back off!"

"Get your hands in the air, Agreste!"

"What the hell was that?!" Adrien suddenly yelled at Shinya, glaring him straight in his more intimidating eye colour with fury and rage. His other hand had Destruction at the ready – He was completely prepared to kill Shinuya if he didn't like the answer he was going to get. "What the hell was that all about?!"

"Wh-What?!" Shinuya choked, struggling to breath under the weight of Adrien's forearm against his windpipe. His hands reacted around the grasp at the muscular limb that belonged to the Agreste teenager to try to pull it away, not that it did him much good at all. Adrien's strength was far too strong, trained for years by his own sheer determination towards Heroism.

It made it so he was built like a man made out of steel. And along with those physical refinements, so had his mind been hardened. He felt no fear or pain right now.

Not even with the superpowered equivalent of thirty machine guns being aimed at his head right behind him.

"Agreste!"

"Last warning!"

"You told me that you saw Hawkmoth using a fire based Trait!" The angered model yelled. "Flight, Metal Manipulation, you said that his powers were along that line! Not some kind of Destruction Type Trait! We hadn't planned on having to deal with that garbage!"

"That- What's what we've seen…" The Japanese teenager coughed violently again. "I-I thought I told you there might be an Illusionist at work…"

"Does it look like Alya's fucking arm being blasted off is an Illusion to you?!"

"We… Don't… Know anything… About Hawkmoth's powers!... I-I told you that… You're the only ones who have… Seen it up close…"

Confused, Marinette spoke up, though her clear anxiety over the intense feel in the air right now was still causing her to shake and for her voice to feel like it was about to break at any moment. "I… I… A-Adrien… When did you speak to Shinuya?"

"When you were getting changed into your Hero Costumes." Said blond teenager. That part was the truth. He followed it up with a lie. "I Teleported into this place, as well as a few others to scout it out, which is why I recommended that we come here. Shinuya and three of his buddies were already here. They explained to me a few things about Hawkmoth's abilities. Said they'd seen him using them from the windows..."

Frustration, clear as it may be, had Adrien filled up… But he wasn't going to rat out the Vigilantes. Perhaps it was because he still felt that he needed them. Perhaps it was a case of 'Honour among thieves'. Perhaps it was because he needed to take his anger out on someone. Or maybe it was because he wanted to use them. The reasons weren't clear, and Shinuya found himself unable to guess or to predict what the blond teenager's next move would be.

It was clear that he wasn't acting as normal. That he was acting as a person he almost certainly never was, or wanted to ever be. That he was acting out, because of the danger of the situation in front of him. His fight-or-flight instinct had totally kicked in – And he had chosen to fight like holy hell.

Bloodlust radiated from him. It honestly wouldn't have surprised Shinuya if Adrien had decided to kill him the second he'd seen him in the room.

"…And he's right." The Dual Trait user sighed, letting go of the Vigilante. "He couldn't have predicted what sort of powers Hawkmoth had… Not from here…" He deactivated his Destruction ability and fell to the ground on his backside, and immediately covered his face with his hands as he fought back tears. "He couldn't…He couldn't…"

Even though he had had Shinuya's throat ready to be crushed… Even though he had probably been about to kill him if he'd decided that the fault was purely Shinuya's. The Japanese teenager held nothing against him… Though he knew he had been right this entire time.

"I…" Shinuya spoke, getting a few violent coughs out of his system before continuing. "I think… I have a bit of a crazy theory… About Hawkmoth's Powers…"

It brought him no pleasure to say it…. But…

Adrien _was_ dark inside.


	31. Info Break - Announcement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few important announcements

Remember this story? I do - I SWEAR I'm working on the new chapter. but I felt this was important to share.

I don't normally do this sort of thing, but a number of things are happening this week that I felt it was important for me to make this update.

first, I am going to be changing my Username to QuirkQuartz - I wanted to announce this to help you guys avoid confusion that someone might be ripping me off - It's still me, I assure you. QuirkQuartz sounds a lot better, and it's more appropriate for the sort of writer I am. So, I'll be doing that after this weeks chapter - I also do this because I know AO3 removes subscriptions. This is a reminder to get ready to resubscribe if you still want updates to my stories. 

And Secondly - And this one is a bit more controversial - After encouragement from my girlfriend, I have a Pat reon now 

Now I want to make this abundantly clear - I don't expect  **anything**  from you guys. The fact you're reading this at all is proof to me that you love my work, and that's what I love the most. However, If you enjoy what I do and  **want** to support me and my ability to keep writing, please consider making a donation. The page itself goes into far greater detail than I can here. Donations there would help me confirm that I will be sticking around for much, much longer, but of course, that is entirely up to you, the reader. I will not stop simply because you don't give me your money. I do not believe that's fair in any way. But with Uni on the horizon, it would be of great help.

Donors will receive early knowledge about my ideas for stories, access to cover art, and can comment and leave their thoughts on ideas - I don't do rewards, because I don't want to try to pry open your wallets.

donating would help me justify the time I spend on this story as opposed more time to my others. It would allow me to spend more time working on what I want to - This is not to say I wish to push you towards making a donation. As I want to emphasise, I want you to donate because you wish to.

That's all I'll say here. you can find the link on my profile page, and in the link below. (I strongly recommend the one in my profile, as I can't promise that the link below will work due to how this site works with links)

This chapter will be deleted when the next one is completed, but I'll do a brief recap in the notes for it.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter ^_^

Pat reon -[ https://www.patreon.com/QuirkQuartz](https://www.patreon.com/QuirkQuartz)


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